{"id":265254,"date":"2020-08-14T01:58:21","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T05:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=265254"},"modified":"2020-08-14T01:58:21","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T05:58:21","slug":"prrd-options-mecq-extension-or-localized-lockdowns-in-ncr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/08\/14\/prrd-options-mecq-extension-or-localized-lockdowns-in-ncr\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD options: MECQ extension or localized lockdowns in NCR"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte talks to the people after holding a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Malago Clubhouse in Malaca\u00f1ang on July 30, 2020. SIMEON CELI JR.\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has the options to either retain the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status or impose localized lockdowns in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can retain the MECQ but again,\u00a0siyempre<\/em>\u00a0(of course), the economy would be something that we must consider. Otherwise, if we go GCQ (general community quarantine), we will have to be very strict\u00a0doon sa ating<\/em>\u00a0(in implementing) localized lockdown,\u201d Nograles said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.<\/p>\n

Nograles, who also serves as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), issued the statement after Malaca\u00f1ang said it was \u201chighly unlikely\u201d for Duterte to extend MECQ in Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Malaca\u00f1ang said it was a \u201cremote possibility\u201d that Metro Manila might be under modified GCQ (MGCQ), the least restrictive community quarantine imposed by the national government.<\/p>\n

In the event that Duterte decides to downgrade the MECQ status in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces to GCQ, local governments should be \u201cmore active\u201d in implementing localized lockdowns to combat the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Nograles said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can assure the public\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0even if\u00a0mag<\/em>-GCQ,\u00a0mas magiging aktibo po ang pag<\/em>-localized lockdowns\u00a0natin<\/em>\u00a0(that even if we impose GCQ, we will be more active in implementing localized lockdowns). That\u2019s the other option,\u201d Nograles said.<\/p>\n

The implementation of MECQ in Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal will lapse on August 18.<\/p>\n

Metro Manila and its nearby provinces were initially under GCQ but Duterte on August 2 decided to upgrade the quarantine status to MECQ following the health workers\u2019 call for \u201ctime-out\u201d to prevent the collapse of the country\u2019s health care system amid the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

In another interview with CNN Philippines\u2019 The Source, Nograles admitted that there are still \u201cchallenges\u201d because most cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIto pong ginawa nating<\/em>\u00a0(With regard to the implementation of) MECQ, we will feel the positive effects of this in the coming weeks because of the incubation period of the virus,\u201d Nograles said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see a slowdown in that in the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nograles said the IATF-EID had already done a \u201cpreliminary assessment\u201d of the situation in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces.<\/p>\n

Nograles said the IATF-EID\u2019s initial recommendations on the new quarantine classifications beginning August 19 have already been transmitted to the local governments of Metro Manila and its nearby provinces to give them the chance to make an appeal.<\/p>\n

He, however, refused to bare additional details, saying he does not want to preempt Duterte\u2019s announcement of fresh quarantine rules after August 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday,\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0IATF meeting\u00a0namin<\/em>\u00a0this afternoon (in the IATF meeting this afternoon), we will be looking at the appeals, if any, of the different Metro Manila and neighboring provinces, LGUs. Then we will give a final recommendation to the President,\u201d Nograles said.<\/p>\n

Duterte is expected to announce the new community quarantine classifications in the country on August 17, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Nograles said the final decision would come from Duterte.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately,\u00a0si Pangulo naman ang magde-desisyon kung ire<\/em>-retain\u00a0ba natin ang<\/em>\u00a0MECQ (the President will be the one to decide whether we retain MECQ) or we to go to GCQ,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has the options to either retain the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status or impose localized …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":263737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","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\/265254","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=265254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265255,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265254\/revisions\/265255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}