File photo shows plastic sheets used as dividers to maintain a one- meter distance between passengers of the the MRT-3 starting Monday, June 1, as Metro Manila enters the general community quarantine period. Niño Jesus Orbeta/Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — Most mayors in Metro Manila are in favor of extending the general community quarantine (GCQ) status in the region after Sept. 30, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said on Friday.
“Hindi ko rin masabi. Ang masasabi ko lang maraming mga mayors ng NCR (National Capital Region) ang gusto pa rin mag-GCQ pero depende pa rin sa usapan sa Sunday,” Año said during a press conference at National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 event in Taguig City.
(I can’t say. But most of the mayors in NCR still want to be placed under GCQ, but this will still depend on our discussions on Sunday.)
Año stressed that they will have a meeting on Sept. 27, Sunday to discuss the mayors’ recommendation for Metro Manila’s coronavirus lockdown to President Rodrigo Duterte.
He said they will discuss with mayors whether to recommend the implementation of modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
“Mahirap din kasi na bigla-bigla tayo pagkatapos biglang ‘ops’ magsisi tayo. Sabi nga dalawa ‘yan: mahigpit na MGCQ o maluwag na GCQ. Kapag titignan mo mas maganda talaga na naka-GCQ tayo kahit magluwag ka ng konti pero meron kang talagang mas mataaas na panuntunan kaysa yung nag MGCQ ka pagkatapos hihigpitan mo,” Año, who is also vice chair of NTF, said.
(It is difficult that we rush to implement a lockdown then after that we will regret it. There are two options: stricter MGCQ or less strict GCQ. If you look into this, it is better for us to be placed under GCQ even if it is less stringent, we have strict policies compared to a stricter MGCQ.)
“So yun ay tatalakayin namin sa linggo nang gabi at yan naman ay ipaalam natin sa publiko kung ano ang napag-usapan,” he added.
(So we will discuss this Sunday night and we will tell the public what we discussed.)
Last month, Duterte maintained Metro Manila’s GCQ status for the whole month of September amid the continued increase of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country.
As of Thursday, the Department of Health (DOH) documented a total of 296,755 COVID-19 infections with 231,928 recoveries and 5,127 deaths.