Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 30)— A possible extension of the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and nearby provinces is an “absolute last resort” for the government, Malacañang said Tuesday.
In his media briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force is thoroughly studying whether to extend or lift the ECQ in the greater Manila area. However, he stressed that a longer implementation of the protocol is not their first option.
“Another week or two weeks of ECQ, ‘yan po ay magiging absolute last resort,” Roque told reporters, expressing hope that the current stricter quarantine will already help bring down the cases.
“The first option po is actually to resort to reopening the economy, if possible. Kasi alam naman natin, na itong ayudang binibigay natin is stop-gap, no,” he pointed out. “Mas importante po na mabigyan ng pagkakataon na makapagtrabaho ang lahat.”
[Translation: Another week or two weeks of ECQ will be an absolute last resort. The first option is to actually to resort to reopening the economy, if possible. Because we all know this aid we’re giving out is only stop-gap. It’s more important to give our citizens the chance to work.]
Roque said the IATF will be meeting on Saturday, April 3, to finalize their quarantine recommendations.
The capital region and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal — dubbed as the NCR Plus — are under the strictest form of quarantine from March 29 until April 4 to tackle the continuous surge in coronavirus infections, which stand at 731,894 to date.
READ: PH logs over 10,000 more COVID-19 cases in a new all-time high spike
However, the Health Department is proposing to extend the ECQ for one more week, saying seven days of strict lockdown may not be enough to see a significant drop in cases and hospital admissions.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said separately that the IATF will “seriously” consider the health experts’ call, especially if the cases continue to rise exponentially.
