By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios

To ensure the safety of all shoppers, and avoid the queue to prevent the spread of coronavirus, ACT-CIS Rep. Niña Taduran proposed to enhancing the services to the customers by putting up drive-thru and pickup points in all supermarkets and other related establishments across the country.

Speaking to THEPHILBIZNEWS, Congresswoman Taduran said, ” The number of cases of coronavirus in the country keeps on growing. Currently, we already hit more than 60,000 cases. If these big retail establishments will have drive-thru and pickup points, we can safely assume that this would significantly abate the unnecessary risks of being exposed to COVID19.”

“It is a win-win. The physical distancing through this kind of service I am thinking when strictly enforced would lessen the risk,” Taduran explained.

Pay, Pick-up and Go

“I am thinking about this, not as a lawmaker but as a homemaker. I do my own grocery and for those who are like me doing these regular grocery, errands make us prone to unknowingly being exposed to the virus by lining up and waiting for our turn to get our goods packed and paid. That is the reason why I see this as a necessity and not a whim, because I have empathic regard for the single parents, pregnant women, senior citizens, and even the person with disabilities who even given priority, the pickup points, and drive-thru would be very convenient for everyone,” Taduran noted.

The party-list lawmaker also praised the proposed effort planned by Philippine National Police Deputy Chief for Administration Lt. Gen. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan in coming up with drive-thru services for all the frontline services of the PNP like gun registration and vehicle clearances.

“This is a brilliant idea, especially in this time where everyone fears that virus that we do not see. Hence, the proposed plan of Lt. General Cascolan in addressing a practical, attainable and smart solution to reduce the risk of being exposed to coronavirus by all parties involved in the transactions,” Taduran added.

“And I realized that it is indeed that idea of the PNP is really a great idea to implement the same for daily essentials like grocery shopping, buying medicine and other transactions that involved prolonged contact with others,” she said.

Apart from this, the Congresswoman Taduran proposed that the supermarket owners and other establishments to create online portals where consumers can preorder the items they buy, pay online and pick them up in the proposed drive-through section or pickup points.

“Everything now is technology-driven. Long term, this will be a good business model as this makes the service efficient, provide options to the varying needs of their customers and at the same time, prevent the spread of the disease. It’s almost contactless. For those who don’t have a vehicle, the establishments can dedicate pickup counters for all markets. Then the special counters or priority counters for pregnant women, senior citizens and PWD can also be created, and this would certainly make all the customers happy,” Taduran added.

“Actually, this does not warrant any legislation. It is a simple, workable and practical suggestion that only needs the cooperation of the supermarket owners and other establishments in the country.