Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) yesterday said the country’s experience with COVID-19 gives new meaning today to Independence Day.

He stressed the need to practice social empathy and compassion in this trying time of physical distancing.

“The pandemic has exposed and exacerbated economic and social inequalities. Rising unemployment has deprived thousands of poor families of their source of income, driving them to extreme poverty, and more economic difficulties are in the horizon,” he said.

“We must observe distancing protocols in the time of COVID-19, but let this not fray the bonds we hold with one another. In the face of the pandemic, let us come together again as a nation, as we did against our colonizers,” he said.

In recognizing responsibilities to fellow Filipinos, Benitez said “we gain the privilege to express and manifest our common humanity.”

He said 122 years ago, the nation’s heroes and martyrs gave their blood, sweat and tears to gain freedom from the chains of colonial oppression.

“Today, health workers and other frontliners are tracking and fighting the invisible viral enemy in hospitals, laboratories, quarantine facilities and communities to break the chains of transmission. We are forever in their debt for their courage and dedication,” he said.*