Dispatch from Crame No. 768:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Earnest Message to the Medical Community

Doctors, nurses, medical technologists, health workers, our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons and friends in the medical profession; I implore you:

You now hold the power over life and death. In this battle against the virus, you are the frontliners. You are the thin white line that stands between us and catastrophe.

Use that power to demand from government what you need to defeat the enemy.

Make a list of your demands. What you want from government and what you think government needs to do. Whether it is to deliver more PPEs, roll-out a comprehensive mass-testing program, set-up or accredit new testing laboratories, access or produce more testing kits (whether here or abroad), more field hospitals to quarantine PUIs and PUMs, immediate release of daily allowance and other benefits to health workers, an efficient transport system to ferry medical workers, etc.

Whatever you need, whatever you want to fight this virus, put it in writing and send it to the IATF.

Tell them how government should spend our taxes and utilize all other available resources. Tell them to spend it now on things that you need to keep saving lives and to keep protecting yourselves.

We are behind you. Without you, we will have no chance whatsoever to survive this pandemic, not the generals, not the lawyers, not the bankers, not the politicians, not the bureaucrats. No, only you can save us.

You are the most powerful sector in the Philippines right now. Use that power to save lives, and to save your brethren who are falling at the frontlines. Tell government what to do. Tell government you can only continue to fight this battle if they listen and act immediately on your demands. Together, let us make government work for us. Our survival as a people and as a nation depends on it.