Duterte keeps Metro Manila under GCQ until November 30

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday that Metro Manila’s 12 million residents would remain under general community quarantine, the third strictest of 4 levels of lockdown, until November 30, even as authorities seek to reactivate the economy hit by the pandemic.

Batangas, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Tacloban City, Iligan City, Lanao del Sur will also be under GCQ from November 1 to 30, he said in a recorded speech broadcast Tuesday.

The mayors of Metro Manila previously urged maintaining GCQ status next month.

“Ang gusto ng karamihan (which the majority want), make it permanent because they have seen the goodness of the result. The number of people infected with the microbe has dropped considerably,” said the president.

“Palagay ko naman sa inyo rin itong kapakanan (I think it is for your well-being). Look, we are not here to make your life miserable or sad. We are here to make your life comfortable and happy,” he added. .

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the quarantine classifications have been approved, but local officials can submit the appeal until October 28.

Metro Manila, which accounts for about a third of gross domestic product, has been under GCQ since August. The commerce department recently allowed some companies in the GCQ areas to operate at full capacity.

The Philippines is forecast to see an economic contraction of 6.9 percent this year, the World Bank has said, the largest since the 1980s and worse than the government’s projected 5.5 percent decline.

Its recovery has been limited by a relentless first wave of infections since March, with more than 370,000 cases, limiting its ability to fully reopen business and restart domestic and international tourism.

The health department recorded 1,607 new coronavirus infections and 62 more deaths on Monday.

In a bulletin, the agency said the total confirmed cases had risen to 371,630, while deaths had reached 7,039. The Philippines has the second highest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. – With a Reuters report