Palace bats for week-long MECQ after extended ECQ

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang ruled out the possibility of extending anew the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)  Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna beyond April 11, but is eyeing a week-long and more lenient modified ECQ (MECQ) once the current status lapses.

The ECQ implementation over Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna was supposed to end on April 4, but was extended for another week until April 11 due to the surge in new COVID-19 cases.

“Given what [Budget] Secretary [Wendel] Avisado said that we have no more funds for ayuda, and Congress currently is on recess so in case we need a supplemental budget, we would have to request for a special session, I don’t think ECQ for a third week is actually a possibility,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Monday in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque (File photo from PTV video)

“In fact, based on the model of the DOH [Department of Health], what they recommended was two weeks of ECQ including last week and then we had earlier another week of bubble, to be followed by a week of MECQ,” he added.

“That’s the model we’re pursuing, two weeks of ECQ and another week of MECQ,” Roque said.

With the implementation of stricter community quarantine and enforcement of health protocols, Roque said the government is expecting the COVID-19 numbers to go down to “4,000 a day by May 15.”

Due to the ECQ implementation, the government will distribute aid either in cash or in kind to 22.9 million beneficiaries across Metro Manila and the four provinces under the so-called NCR Plus bubble.

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