Bicol leaders split on move to extend Luzon lockdown
COVID-19 WATCH Provincial bus commuters have to go through a temperature check at a designated checkpoint in Daraga, Albay province, on March 15. —MARK ALVIC ESPLANA
LIGAO CITY, Albay, Philippines — The proposal to extend the Luzon lockdown has gained the support of some government leaders in Bicol but was bucked by the governor of Albay and the bishop of Legazpi City.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, House committee on ways and means chair, Rep. Alfred delos Santos of Ang Probinsyano party list, and Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal believed that extending the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) would enable the government to better combat the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as the number of afflicted persons was still rising.
“Now that the mass testing for PUMs (persons under monitoring) will start very soon, it would be good [for us] if extended ECQ would be executed. At least, we will be given an idea or picture what is the extent of COVID-19 infection in the country,” Delos Santos said Friday.
For Rosal, extending the ECQ would be needed if the number of the COVID-19 cases would still rise.
Mayor Joseling Aguas Jr. of Sto. Domingo town in Albay province agreed: “Authorities should carefully look into statistics and numbers. The numbers would tell if the situation is getting better or worse as the days go by. If there is a decrease in new cases of [infections] and a rise in recoveries, then the authorities should consider the lifting of the ECQ. However, if the numbers tell otherwise, then the ECQ must remain in force.”
In Camarines Sur province, Iriga City Mayor Madelaine Alfelor also favored an ECQ extension. “We have no choice. We have to sacrifice unless we want to be like Italy. We have not even started, we’ve only just begun,” Alfelor said.
Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara, however, said an ECQ extension “maybe only applied in Metro Manila.”
“But in some provinces, a great number of villages will soon be PUI (person under investigation) and PUM free. One size does not fit all,” Bichara added.
Bishop Joel Baylon of the Diocese of Legazpi was also not in favor of extending the lockdown in areas outside of Metro Manila.
“It might be needed in big cities like Manila, but not in the provinces. And we need the economy to run, the majority at least of our labor force to be back to work, otherwise it’s going to be very bad for us all!” he said in a text message on Saturday.
Calibrated lifting
In Baguio City, local health officials recommended on Friday a calibrated lifting of the ECQ in the city after it recorded zero transmission of COVID-19 in the past five days.
Dr. Rowena Galpo, city health officer, said COVID-19 infection in the city had already reached its peak and that they were “in the process of flattening the curve.”
“This is a good sign …We hope that we could maintain zero positive cases [in the city],” she said at a press briefing.
The Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) had started screening swab samples from PUIs after getting 100 test kits last month, according to Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, director of the Department of Health in Cordillera. The BGHMC is among the five designated subnational testing centers for COVID-19 in the country.
But Galpo said it would be risky to open the city borders due to the surging COVID-19 cases outside Baguio.
—REPORTS FROM MICHAEL B. JAUCIAN, MAR S. ARGUELLES, KIMBERLIE QUITASOL, NATHAN ALCANTARA, YOLANDA SOTELO AND GREG REFRACCION
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