Some LGUs Want Stricter Quarantine

Several provinces want to be placed under stricter quarantine or remain under one as the government reviews its progress in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

- Alexis Romero

After staying for two weeks in Davao City, President Duterte is back in Manila to meet with the government’s pandemic task force and to announce his decision on the quarantine measures in Metro Manila and other areas.

The President’s meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases yesterday was expected to tackle the quarantine scenarios in various parts of the country, including the appeal of some local governments to change their classifications.

Nearly 20 local governments have asked the task force to reconsider their groupings.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said some areas were seeking to impose stricter quarantine measures. They were Quezon province, which wanted to be placed under general community quarantine from modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) and Cebu City, which sought an upgrade to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from GCQ.

Roque said the Caraga region, Abra, Apayao and Lanao del Sur – areas that have shifted to the most lenient MGCQ – also wanted to be under GCQ.

Dagupan City, Batanes, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Davao Occidental and Davao del Sur, meanwhile, appealed for “de-escalation” of quarantine restrictions. Meanwhile, Pangasinan, Angeles City, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Pampanga, Cavite and Cebu province have urged the IATF to reclassify them from GCQ to MGCQ.

“These are the areas that appealed their classification and I do not know the decision yet because the IATF members are still discussing them,” Roque said.

Roque said local governments were informed about the IATF’s recommendation on quarantine classifications last Wednesday to give local governments time to make an appeal.