“Quick, easy and effective. That’s what Tiktok videos are. This is why it’s a good way to make our demands known to the widest number of people.”
By REIN TARINAY
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Members of youth organizations used their creativity to popularize their seven-point public health demands amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
In the first week of Luzon-wide lockdown, hundreds posted their own Tiktok video with the hashtag #SolusyongMedikalHindiMilitar on Twitter and Facebook. Tiktok, a short-form mobile video application, is famous among the youth here in the Philippines.
Netizens echoed the following demands to the Duterte administration:
1. Implement immediate medical solutions instead of military actions
2. Ensure the health and safety of workers and employees in the public and private sectors
3. Ensure free, mass COVID-19 testing and services
4. Re-channel the PhP 4.5 billion confidential and intelligence funds towards health
5. Impose stringent price freezes
6. Ensure constant, 24/7 access to clean water supplies
7. Support and fund local scientists and health workers
In an online interview, artist Bernadette Anne Morales said that since most people could not go out of their homes, the internet is the logical platform to be utilized. “Quick, easy and effective. That’s what Tiktok videos are. This is why it’s a good way to make our demands known to the widest number of people,” she told Bulatlat.
“Hello, CoViD, Goodbye”:
An official entry to the #TikTABAKChallenge Day 1: COVIDUBIDUBDUB #SolusyongMedikalHindiMilitar https://t.co/hxXbEP6dGk pic.twitter.com/suFTJfiVZp
— Biko Sotto (@delka_linar) March 23, 2020
#SerbisyoHindiPerwisyo#TikTokersAgainstTyranny
PUSH FOR THE 7-POINT PUBLIC HEALTH AGENDA!
Join kayo sa challenge na ‘to ng @LFS_CSSP. (‘Di ko mahanap ‘yung song so iba ginawa ko.) pic.twitter.com/wsLiwi486a
— patrick (@patrickjosefdc) March 17, 2020
Netizens also turned to Twitter and Facebook to call for mass testing, using the hashtag #MassTestingNowPH. They also publicly condemned government officials and their families who availed of COVID-19 testing despite not having symptoms. The hashtag #NoToVIPTesting trended on Twitter in the past few days.
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\|\ \ REE MASS TESTING
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\////// #MassTestingNowPH pic.twitter.com/mRLiaP1x69— andrea (@fentoozlers) March 22, 2020
An online petition urging the Duterte administration to conduct mass testing has gained thousands of supporters. As of now, 167,688 have signed the petition. 
