Vice President Leni Robredo (Photo by Jay Ganzon/OVP)
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday questioned the proposal to place the entire country under the least stringent modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Ano yung basis ng MGCQ? Wala naman problema kung mag-MGCQ kung may basehan tayo dun,” Robredo said in her weekly radio show “BISErbisyong Leni” over radio station DZXL.
(What’s the basis for MGCQ. We don’t have a problem to shift to MGCQ if we have a basis.)
“Pero pag tignan natin yung numero, yung numero ang taas pa rin ng transmission. Ang taas ng transmission, wala pa yung bakuna,” she added.
(If you look at the numbers, the transmission rate is still high, and the vaccine has not arrived yet.)
“Para sa akin, dapat yung energies natin, dapat nandun sa pag-kontrol ng transmission tsaka sa pag-provide ng bakuna. Hindi na sa kung anu-ano pa,” she said.
(For me, our energies should be channeled to controlling the transmission as well as securing the vaccine.)
Acting National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua first recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte to place the entire country under MGCQ by March to spur more economic activity.
Acting NEDA Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua
Nine out of 17 Metro Manila mayors backed the proposal, along with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Amid the proposals, the OCTA Research group reported that there was “a slight upward trend” of Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila, known as one of the country’s coronavirus hotspots.
File photo shows a healthcare worker performing a swab test in Tondo, Manila. (REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez)
Palace spokesman Harry Roque said that President Duterte may decide on the proposed nationwide MGCQ by Monday or before the end of the month.