Metro mayors want single quarantine policy after May 15

STOCKING UP ON ESSENTIALS Residents of Barangay Addition Hills buy food and other supplies in preparation for a weeklong“total lockdown” in their village starting on May 7.—GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila mayors want the national government to enforce a single policy in the entire capital region when it decides whether to lift, extend or modify the community quarantine in the capital region, which is set to lapse on May 15.

The Metro Manila Council — composed of the 17 mayors of the National Capital Region (NCR) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) — met over the weekend and made three proposals to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID):

• Extension of the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) for two more weeks, from May 16-30.
• ECQ will be lifted, and general community quarantine (GCQ) will be imposed in the entire Metro Manila
• Modified GCQ, where LGUs are allowed to impose a lockdown on a specific barangay or zone if needed.

However, the mayors said there must be a single action for the entire Metro Manila and should not be different per city, citing the connectivity of all the cities comprising the National Capital Region (NCR).

“Ang hiling lang po ng Metro Manila mayors, kung anuman ang magiging desisyon ng IATF sana ho iisang polisiya, iisang guidelines, iisang kumpas lang po para sa NCR, since NCR po must act as a region,” MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago said in a televised press briefing Monday.

“Hindi po pupwedeng ‘yung isang city ECQ, yung isa ho GCQ, yung isa modified since intercities po ‘yung pinag-uusapan natin,” she added.

The IATF is the policy-making body of the government’s fight against the coronavirus disease.

President Rodrigo Duterte, however, will have the final say on whether to extend or ease the lockdown measures placed on Metro Manila and several provinces beyond May 15. He is set to decide on the fate of the lockdown on Monday.

Duterte first placed Metro Manila under community quarantine on March 15, but the ECQ was expanded the next day to cover the entire Luzon region, until April 12.

The Luzon ECQ was then extended until April 30 but Metro Manila and several “high-risk” provinces were ordered to remain under strict movement restrictions until May 15.

Metro Manila is touted as the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the country. It has 6,993 confirmed COVID-19 infections which constitute almost 65 percent of the country’s total of 10,794 cases.

EDV