{"id":259044,"date":"2020-06-23T22:42:39","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T02:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=259044"},"modified":"2020-06-23T22:42:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T02:42:39","slug":"prrd-could-visit-cebu-city-but-not-anytime-soon-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/23\/prrd-could-visit-cebu-city-but-not-anytime-soon-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD could visit Cebu City but not anytime soon: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"

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FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte updates the nation on the government’s efforts in addressing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Matina Enclaves in Davao City on June 4, 2020. JOEY DALUMPINES\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 As the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in Cebu City nears 5,000, Malaca\u00f1ang said President Rodrigo Duterte will probably not visit the city anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the 75-year-old President, considered vulnerable to Covid-19, will only be allowed to visit the city if there is a decrease in the number of Covid-19 cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi pa po siguro ngayon. Kinakailangan bumaba muna ang mga kaso ng<\/em>\u00a0Covid-19 (It probably won\u2019t be anytime soon. The number of Covid-19 cases has to decrease first),\u201d he said in a virtual presser on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Although Duterte\u2019s plan to visit Cebu City would have to be pushed back, Roque expressed confidence that Cebuanos would take the President\u2019s honest pieces of advice to heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa\u00a0<\/em>Cebu\u00a0po, hindi pa siguro<\/em>\u00a0in the near future.\u00a0Pero talagang taga<\/em>-Cebu\u00a0naman po ang ating Presidente, kaya kampante siya na maiintindihan ng mga taga-<\/em>Cebu\u00a0kung mayroon man siyang mga sasabihin na galing sa puso at prangka<\/em>\u00a0(The President might not visit Cebu in the near future but the President is from Cebu, so he is confident that we will be understood by the Cebuanos if he has something to say that\u2019s from the heart and frank),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque made this clarification after Duterte bared that he would visit Cebu City to reprimand Cebuanos for being \u201chard-headed\u201d by failing to observe quarantine protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will visit you. When I get there, I will be frank with you again because you are hard-headed,\u201d Duterte said in a televised public address late Monday night.<\/p>\n

In the same speech, Duterte said the rise in Covid-19 cases in the city can be attributed to Cebuanos being too \u201cconfident\u201d and \u201ccomplacent.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Roque admitted that the President, who was tired of being stuck in Malaca\u00f1an Palace would soon be visiting military camps after seeking approval from the Presidential Security Group (PSG).<\/p>\n

\u201cPero hindi na po napigilan ng<\/em>\u00a0PSG,\u00a0talagang iikot na po ang Presidente; dadalaw na po siya sa mga kampo ng<\/em>\u00a0military (But the PSG could not stop the President, the President is determined to go around; he will visit military camps),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Duterte announced that he would take extra precautions in visiting military camps amid the continuous threat of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Asked if there would be a chance for Duterte to attend the christening and commissioning of BRP Jose Rizal, the country’s first missile-frigate, Roque said it would depend on the PSG.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala pa po. Makikipagtawaran muna sa<\/em>\u00a0PSG\u00a0para siya ay payagan<\/em>\u00a0(There is no news about it yet. He will have to bargain with the PSG so that he will be permitted),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte was supposed to be guest of honor in the warship\u2019s commissioning scheduled on the national hero\u2019s birthday on June 19 but was moved to a later date.<\/p>\n

Cimatu\u2019s stint<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Duterte assigned Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to oversee Cebu City\u2019s fight against Covid-19, Roque expressed hope that the quarantine classification in the city would be downgraded from the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to the less stringent general community quarantine (GCQ).<\/p>\n

Talisay City, a component city under the province of Cebu, was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) but later downgraded to GCQ following appeal of the local officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully\u00a0po<\/em>\u00a0the assignment will be as short as possible\u00a0para po bumalik sa<\/em>\u00a0GCQ\u00a0man lang ang<\/em>\u00a0Cebu City\u00a0at ang<\/em>\u00a0Talisay (so that Cebu City and Talisay can return to GCQ),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque said he believed an \u201coutsider\u201d would help local officials in Cebu City manage the spread of the virus which will eventually lead to lowering in Covid-19 cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatindi po ang kanyang eksperiyensya at kakayahan at ang tingin ko po ay baka kinakailangan nga ng outsider para magkaroon ng mga pagbabago diyan sa\u00a0<\/em>Cebu (He has much experience and capability and I think an outsider would help implement changes in Cebu),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he said there would be no need to appoint a temporary replacement for Cimatu to manage day-to-day operations at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) while he is away.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi naman siguro kinakailanan na magtalaga ng kapalit niya sa<\/em>\u00a0DENR.\u00a0Maraming beses na po na binigyan ng<\/em>\u00a0special mission\u00a0ang ating<\/em>\u00a0Secretary of DENR\u00a0at di naman po kinailangan na magtalaga ng kapalit sa<\/em>\u00a0DENR (Perhaps there would be no need to appoint a replacement for him at DENR. He has been given special missions but never needed a replacement). So status quo po, he remains Secretary of DENR,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  MANILA\u00a0\u2013 As the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in Cebu City nears 5,000, Malaca\u00f1ang said President Rodrigo …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":257646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259044","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=259044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259046,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259044\/revisions\/259046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}