Mayors in Metro Manila are recommending downgrading the current modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ) status in the National Capital Region after Aug. 18.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority general manager Jose Arturo Garcia made the announcement following a meeting of MMDA officials with members of the Metro Manila Council Sunday night.
"We will recommend the GCQ just like what we did before, when there were several restrictions," said Garcia. "We want a stricter GCQ."
President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to speak Monday night on the quarantine status of Metro Manila and four nearby provinces placed under MECQ until Tuesday.
GCQ is a more relaxed form of community quarantine. Areas deemed by the task force as "low" or "moderate" risk for an outbreak are under GCQ.
Under GCQ, public transportation resumes at a reduced capacity, people can go back to work in certain sectors, and "non-leisure" establishments can open apart from essential ones.
The MMC, composed of 17 mayors and other local executives in Metro Manila, is also considering enforcing standard curfew hours and a localized lockdown in areas with a large number of COVID-19 cases.
The council is the governing board and the policy-making body of the MMDA.
"The mayors want a one and for all, all for one, meaning one quarantine status only," said Garcia, adding that they are also amenable to remaining under MECQ status.
"If it is MECQ or GCQ, of course, there will be pros and cons. We have to balance this," he said.
Garcia said it is up to the members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) whether they would approve or not their recommendation.
On Saturday, MMC chairman and Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said Metro Manila will most likely go back to general community quarantine status if the number of COVID-19 cases continues to decrease.
He claimed the implementation of modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) has been effective in Metro Manila.
The government placed Metro Manila and nearby provinces under MECQ status following the appeal made by health workers amid the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
The lack of PPEs (personal protective equipment), the filling up of hospitals, the state of our testing, tracing, and quarantine systems and how to improve them are some of the urgent issues raised by the health front-liners.
The IATF, though Resolution No. 62, stated that Cabinet members will oversee the implementation and compliance of LGUs to quarantine guidelines, monitor the status of the area’s healthcare system, and ensure a smoother communication between the national and local government.