{"id":249211,"date":"2020-03-19T21:40:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T01:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=249211"},"modified":"2020-03-19T21:40:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T01:40:47","slug":"luzon-execs-told-to-heed-quarantine-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/19\/luzon-execs-told-to-heed-quarantine-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Luzon execs told to heed quarantine restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with the officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Malago Clubhouse in Malaca\u00f1ang on March 19, 2020. ACE MORANDANTE\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday directed all local government units (LGUs) in Luzon to follow the approved Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases\u2019 (IATF-EID) guidelines on the implementation of enhanced community quarantine in the island.<\/p>\n

Duterte made the call as he recognized the LGUs\u2019 vital role in the national government\u2019s efforts to arrest the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you have the mandate to deal with emergencies affecting your localities. I was a (former) mayor myself, in case you have forgotten. But this is an emergency of national proportions, and therefore, it is the national government that should call the shots.
\nThe national governing body in charge of laying down the standards for this quarantine is the IATF or the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease,\u201d Duterte said in his message to the Luzon LGU executives.<\/p>\n

Luzon island is under quarantine until April 12 to stop further spread of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Over 5.3 million people from Luzon are required to stay at home and can only go outside when they need to buy basic necessities.<\/p>\n

Those exempted from the restrictions are the military and the police, health workers, media practitioners, and others rendering essential services.<\/p>\n

Less complicated<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte reminded LGUs in Luzon to avoid making the situation \u201cmore difficult\u201d for the people.<\/p>\n

He said LGUs should ensure that their actions are consistent with the national directives so as not to sow confusion among their constituents.<\/p>\n

He said going beyond the rules imposed by the national government would only add \u201cmore trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo all LGUs, let us move forward together with one accord, implement the lockdowns, and save our people from the dreaded disease, once and for all,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Duterte acknowledged that the Covid-19 outbreak is already taking a toll on everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go beyond the standards that we have set, you are abusing your authority,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Duterte said local officials should realize that their respective territories are \u201cnot separate from a republic or each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is only one republic here \u2014 the Republic of the Philippines. And therefore, you should abide by the directives of the national government when it sets the directives of the whole for the good of the country and the protocols observed during the time of the lockdown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to closely monitor the compliance of local governments.<\/p>\n

He said the DILG and the DOJ can file administrative and criminal cases against erring LGUs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, move in one direction, in unison, precisely to place the contagion in control for the better health of our Filipino, our countrymen,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Abusing authority) can lead to (the filing of) administrative cases or even worse, unless you stop what you are doing and (cooperate) fully. Criminal cases cannot be far behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte on March 16 signed a presidential proclamation, placing the Philippines under a state of calamity for six months to allow LGUs to tap more funds that they can use amid the fight against Covid-19.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, the Philippines has 217 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 17 deaths and eight cases of recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday directed all local government units (LGUs) in Luzon to follow the approved Inter-Agency Task …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":249212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249213,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249211\/revisions\/249213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}