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The mayors of Quezon City and Valenzuela City said they were ready for a gradual reopening, even as the public waits for a decision by the Palace to relax or extend the blockade beyond the May 15 deadline.
Metro Manila, along with the rest of Luzon, has been under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) since March 15, 2020. The term was extended earlier, allegedly ending next Friday, but a new online survey reported that 73 per percent of respondents said they were in favor of Another extension.
On Saturday, Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. dismissed the reports, saying that the ECQ has spread as “false news.”
He explained that the Inter-Agency Working Group for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) had not yet made a final recommendation to President Rodrigo Duterte on quarantine.
He also raised the possibility that the enhanced quarantine could cover all areas or be “surgical,” meaning that only areas that still have a high number of 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) would be kept under lock and key.
Previously, the Metro Manila Council announced that it would recommend another 15-day extension of the improved quarantine in Metro Manila.
The council, made up of 17 mayors in the Capital National Region or Metro Manila, wants to extend the improved quarantine until May 30 to allow their respective health departments to carry out mass tests.
Roque said the task force would consider the mayors’ recommendation as they would implement the program against Covid-19.
He added that the IATF-EID would meet again on May 11 and then present its recommendation to President Duterte.
The spokesman said he expected President Duterte to announce a decision also on Monday.
Quezon City for GCQ
A day after Metro Manila mayors proposed an improved quarantine extension, Quezon City announced that it would implement a “transition period” to general community quarantine (GCQ) after May 15.
Mayor Josefina “Joy” Belmonte said in a statement: “While the health of our residents remains our top priority, we must also take care of the local economy, which has been severely affected by the dreaded virus.”
He was to convey the position of his city on Saturday, during a meeting of the mayors of Metro Manila.
He explained that the transition to a general quarantine would boost the local economy, adding that companies would be required to adapt “strict health protocols” as a “new normal environment.”
“The necessary preventive measures must be put in place and the health and safety of workers and customers must be guaranteed before allowing them to operate again,” he said.
Quezon City has the majority of Covid-19 cases, according to data from the Health Department. As of May 8, it has 1,518 confirmed cases and 134 deaths, as well as 337 recoveries.
Even if Quezon City gets its way, companies would be required to report their production capacities and proportional labor requirements.
“Sanctions will be imposed on those who do not report,” Assistant City Operations Administrator Alberto Kimpo said in the same statement.
Kimpo encouraged large companies to test their staff for Covid-19 and prepare quarantine facilities for them.
“Companies must also implement mandatory temperature control at all entry points, while dividers must be installed between workstations to avoid physical contact,” he said.
Kimpo added that no 24-hour operation would allow regular disinfection, except in related medical facilities.
The guidelines also require companies to shut down for one day for disinfection and sanitation, including the option to redeploy the ECQ in villages or parts that continue to have high infection rates, subject to approval by the task force unit in Metro Manila.
“Checkpoints will be retained and can be tightened in priority areas, community testing will continue and contact tracking will be strengthened to help control the virus,” he said.
Valenzuela ready
Also on Saturday, Mayor Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela told The Manila Times that his city was also ready for a downgrade to a GCQ, but added that he would respect the recommendation of the council of mayors to extend the improved quarantine again.
He appreciated the statement by the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, Eduardo Año, who said that the cities of Valenzuela and San Juan could change to a GCQ because they had the fewest Covid-19 cases in the metropolitan area.
Now that the government has the capacity to carry out mass tests, some areas with fewer cases could go into general quarantine.
“Let’s do it, Valenzuelanos. Stay home; there is discipline in Valenzuela. We are in the news for the right reasons,” Gatchalian said in response to Ano’s statement.
But Gatchalian admitted that it would be more difficult to contain the pandemic if the cities in Metro Manila were under different levels of quarantine.
“We know that the cities in Metro Manila are interconnected, while Valenzuela is the gateway to the north, which could be a challenge if we are forced to change to GCQ due to the movement of people who will come and go to the provinces and others cities and vice versa, ”he said.
“But Valenzuela is ready to accept the challenge,” he added.
73% for extension
In a related development, PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. announced that it had conducted an online panel survey in Metro Manila, where 73 percent of the 1,000 respondents said they were in favor of extending the enhanced quarantine, while 27 percent one hundred was not in favor of that.
In a statement, PUBLiCUS said its survey was conducted between May 5 and 8, and that the respondents were between 18 and 70 years old.
The survey is a commission-free, independent follow-up survey designed by PUBLiCUS, a political consulting group, and its research arm, VOX Opinion Research (VOX).
Aureli Sinsuat, executive director and spokesperson, said: “It would be difficult for the government to pull the trigger on a second ECQ extension without the support of the general public due to political and law enforcement considerations.”
“Strong public support to extend the ECQ gives the government a free hand to make a decision based on evidence and data, not politics,” he added.
with FRANZ LEWIN FUNNEL AND ARLIE O. CALALO
