MANILA — The Department of Health will recommend extending the state of calamity for COVID-19 in the country for next year should Congress reject its proposed bill on public health emergency.

According to DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, the agency will urge the Office of the President to extend anew the state of calamity, which is set to expire on December 31.

"The option really is for us to extend the state of calamity or file another bill na konti lang 'yung nakalaman and specific lang siya dito sa mga requirements natin if the state of calamity will not be extended," she said in a press briefing Tuesday.

• DOH pushes passage of public health emergency law

The DOH has urged lawmakers to pass the Public Health Emergency for Emerging and Reemerging Disease Bill and a measure that would establish the Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

"Parte diyan ng mga bill na 'yan would be that even though there is no state of calamity declaration or public health emergency declaration, we can still continue on to implement our vaccination program," Vergeire said.

"We can still do expedited procurement. We can still do the other things we are doing right now for this pandemic."

In March 2020, former President Rodrigo Duterte signed Proclamation No. 922, which declared a state of public health emergency in the country due to the coronavirus outbreak.

In September, a month after he took office, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. extended the state of calamity throughout the country until the end of the year.

• Philippines declares state of calamity due to COVID-19 outbreak
• Marcos to extend COVID state of public health emergency until end-2022

Since the pandemic began, the Philippines has tallied some 4 million coronavirus infections, of which some 64,000 led to death.

As of Nov. 14, the country has 19,821 active COVID-19 cases.

Courtesy of DOH