Many Metro mayors look down on lockdown

MANILA, Philippines — Some of the mayors of Metro Manila were divided on the proposal whether or not the whole national capital region should be placed on lockdown if the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) becomes worse.

The idea was first floated by Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda, where he proposed that work in Metro Manila should be suspended for one week and classes must be postponed for at least a week or until the end of the school year in April.

But President Rodrigo Duterte himself rejected the idea, saying that it was “too early” to call for a lockdown on Metro Manila.

At the sidelines of the Metro Manila Council (MMC) meeting, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said that the proposal is “still out of the question” considering the number of infected “doesn’t merit” to the total lockdown of the whole National Capital Region.

The country’s count for the confirmed cases of the coronavirus is currently at 33.

Asked about her opinion, Makati City Mayor Abby Binay said that the word “lockdown” itself is already an “extreme term.”

“Ang ginawa lang po natin ay yung yung pagsu-suspend ng pasok sa mga bata so parang ang mga mangyayari po ay ‘grounded’ ang mga bata,” Binay said, referring to the suspension of classes for the whole of Metro Manila until March 14.

(What we did is the suspension of classes of the children, so it’s as if they’re grounded.)

Edwin Olivarez, Parañaque City Mayor and chairman of the MMC, also echoed Binay’s sentiment. He also cited the Department of Health’s alert system to Code Red, sub-level 1, which was raised after the first case of local transmission was reported.

“Wala kasi ang ating code is code red pero nasa sub-level 2,” Olivarez said. “Ang nagde-declare nyan yung DOH at sa sub-level 1 hindi kailangan ng lockdown.”

(It’s not in our code red but its in sub-level 2. The DOH declares that and in sub-level 1, we don’t need a lockdown.)

But for Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro, he thinks the idea of a lockdown should be taken “into serious consideration.”

The lockdown, he added, is not necessarily to paralyze the whole Metro Manila.

“Tukuyin lang mabuti at magkaroon ng mas maayos na impormasyon, Kung ilan talaga infected, nasaan ang extent ng transmission. Kaya yung tamang impormasyon napakahalaga,” Teodoro said.

(We just need more useful information and to look into it, on how many are infected, where’s the extent of the transmission. That’s why correct information is so important.)