PNP, local gov’ts ready for granular lockdowns

Philippine National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar during a flag-raising ceremony in Camp Crame, Quezon City on May 10, 2021. INQUIRER file photo / Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — Despite no clear instructions yet on how they will be implemented, granular lockdowns were being prepared to be enforced in the National Capital Region (NCR) by the Philippine National Police and local governments.

Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, chief of the PNP, had given instructions to police commanders to coordinate with their respective local governments “to avoid confusion and ensure that granular lockdowns are properly implemented.”

According to the PNP, there were 53 barangays in the NCR under granular lockdowns as of Tuesday.

During the lockdown, which usually lasts from several days up to two weeks, authorities conduct mass testing on all residents in the area to detect even asymptomatic cases.

It will be lifted when the local epidemiology and surveillance unit observe a significant downtrend in the number of active COVID-19 cases.

In Makati City, Mayor Abby Binay assured residents that the city government was ready to provide essential needs to those who would be affected by the granular lockdown.

In Pasay City, more than 500 households have been put under granular lockdown since last week as the city grappled with its increasing COVID-19 cases.

The Pasay government is putting under granular lockdown barangays with three or more COVID-19 cases.

Barangay 183, located next to Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 and Pasay’s most populous among its 201 barangays, has been in “extended localized community quarantine” since March last year due to the high number of its COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the World Health Organization representative to the Philippines, supported the granular lockdowns as opposed to a large-scale quarantine that has greatly impacted the economy.

“If we are now considering moving from a very stringent quarantine to a more relaxed quarantine with very granular lockdowns … the critically important element is that those granular lockdowns, those actions need to be influenced by very accurate, very up-to-date data,” he said in a television interview on Tuesday.