Senators raise concern about PH’s...

to protect against EG.5 as well.

“Based on the available evidence, the public health risk posed by EG.5 is evaluated as low at the global level, aligning with the risk associated with XBB.1.16 and the other currently circulating variants of interest,” wrote the World Health Organization in its EG.5 Initial Risk Evaluation on Aug. 9.

“While EG.5 has shown increased prevalence, growth advantage, and immune escape properties, there have been no reported changes in disease severity to date,” the WHO went on to say. “However, due to its growth advantage and immune escape characteristics, EG.5 may cause a rise in case incidence and become dominant in some countries or even globally.”

This serves as a reminder for us that COVID-19 is still around and we should keep ourselves updated on how we can protect ourselves from it. (Amrie Cruz/ Inquirer.net) about their ballooning debt na ballooning na rin yung principal and debt payments, and yet ballooning pa rin si total amount to be paid?” Pimentel asked again.

De Leon assured that the country’s debt is “very manageable” and “sustainable.”

Still, Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa sought to assuage fears that it would take generations to pay for huge debt.

“May nagsasabi na mas maganda siguro kung mas manganak tayo ng maraming anak para lumaki ang population natin at pag lumaki ang population, mas maraming maghahati-hati ng utang, mas bababa ang per capita ng utang natin,” he said.

(Some are saying we should have more children to grow the population so that more people will share the debt burden, which would result in lower debt per capita.)

Dela Rosa then asked the economic team: “Tama ba sir sabihin natin sa mga Filipino nanood ngayon na pagdating sa national debt natin, don’t panic walang problema, kayang-kaya natin ito?”

(Is it okay to tell the Filipinos watching now that when it comes to our national debt, “Don’t panic, there’s no problem. We can handle this?)

As in the past, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno assured the lawmakers that the country’s debt is manageable.

Diokno also pointed out that the composition of the national budget is mostly investment and is pro-poor.

“So don’t panic mga

Filipino. Utang lang yan, kayang kaya,” Dela Rosa said.

(So don’t panic, fellow Filipinos. It’s just debt, we can definitely handle it.)

Like Pimentel, opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said she is also worried about the ballooning budget of the country.

“Madali po sigurong sabihin wag tayong magaalala sa utang, pero tulad ni Sen. Koko nag-aalala po ako and sa totoo lang, di po tayo dapat mag-overpromise kung nag-a-underdeliver pa…” Hontiveros said.

(It’s probably easy to say that we shouldn’t worry about debt, but like Sen. Koko, I’m concerned. And honestly, we shouldn’t overpromise if we’re still underdelivering…)

“Normal lang po talaga mag-alala sa utang kasi nga people don’t feel protected and I think we need to stay in touch with that,” she added.

(It’s really normal to worry about debt because people don’t feel secure, and I think we need to be in touch with that.) g