BEGINNING May 16, 2020, the Province of Cebu along with the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu will be placed under general community quarantine (GCQ) until May 31.
Cebu City, on the other hand, will be under a modified enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) along with the National Capital Region and Laguna Province.
This means the guidelines will be modified to allow some industries to resume operations at a limited capacity.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the official Palace announcement on Tuesday, May 12.
“Hinay-hinay, dahan-dahan, unti-unti po ang ating pagbukas,” Roque said in a virtual press conference at noon.
The announcement was met with strong opposition from the mayors of the tri-cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
The three mayors are appealing to President Rodrigo Duterte and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to keep their cities’ status under ECQ.
In a statement signed on May 12, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan all agreed that Cebu’s three highly-urbanized cities must remain under ECQ due to the growing number of Covid-19 cases in their jurisdictions.
“While we welcome such development, we could not simply ignore the harsh realities that to our assessment, it is still not safe to proceed with the General Community Quarantine, more so, that a greater part of the community has not been tested for Covid-19,” the statement said.
While they understood the clamor of the public to ease restrictions and return to normalcy, the mayors said downgrading the status of the cities to GCQ would not be “logical” and could cause a “second wave of infections” especially since 90 percent of Covid-19 cases in the region are asymptomatic.
“We likewise understand the importance to start up the economy but this should not be at the expense of the health and safety of our people,” Labella, Cortes and Chan jointly said.
“We simply cannot afford to have business establishments open with sick or no people running them. We cannot look our constituents in the eye and give the guarantee that it would be safe for them to go out,” they added.
The three mayors believe that before restrictions could be lifted, testing, tracing and treating Covid-19 must be implemented.
They cited the mass testing and tracing which they had already initiated in their respective cities.
The mayors also asked the public’s support by having themselves tested in their barangays to help determine the number of Covid-infected residents.
ECQ vs GCQ
Under a modified ECQ, some people will be allowed limited movement for work and supply run, selected manufacturing and processing plants will be allowed to operate with up to 50 percent of their workforce, limited transport services will be allowed for essential goods and services, but physical classes in all levels will still be suspended.
Meanwhile, those placed under GCQ will have a loosening of restrictions compared to ECQ.
Under GCQ, government offices and industries, except those in the amusement sector, will be allowed to operate up to 75 percent of capacity.
Public transportation services will also resume, provided social distancing is observed.
Face-to-face classes are still suspended, but other learning options may be considered.
For Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Steven Yu, the surge of the cases highlights the need for an extension of the ECQ in Cebu to give ample time to test, isolate and heal.
“Under the Balik Buhay program, we need to successfully test a sizeable portion of the barangay population first, and we are currently encountering some delays or headwinds. Some people are fearful of the tests,” Yu said.
The mass rapid testing in the tri-cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu is expected to conclude on May 16.
“Personally, I believe that the tri-cities should move as one, for the same reason that NCR is being categorized as one (due to inter-connection of economies and contiguous land areas). Mandaue City cannot be isolated from Cebu City, they are inseparable (economically),” Yu added.
Transition
At Capitol, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said she wants to hear first the opinions and suggestions of local chief executives before the Province of Cebu officially transitions from ECQ to GCQ.
Garcia said she will meet with mayors of the 44 towns and six component cities of the province, as well as the local chief executives of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu at 11 a.m. Friday, May 15 to thoroughly go over the protocols and processes in the actual transition of the province from ECQ to GCQ.
The governor issued Executive Order (EO) 14 on April 29 creating the Task Force New Normal in the Province of Cebu.
The body is tasked to form new policies and guidelines as Cebu moves forward.
In the entire island of Cebu, only Cebu City would be placed under a modified ECQ that will see a few more businesses opening up but not as unrestricted compared to a GCQ.
Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) spokesperson, Robert Go, said they are looking at a gradual lifting of the ECQ.
However, due to lingering concerns about purchasing power and getting infected with the virus, Go feared people will not go to the establishments.
“This will be a long and slow term until people will come and it might take years. Even China, which opened earlier than us, seems to have problems of customers buying or actually coming,” Go said.
Provinces and cities
The modified ECQ for Metro Manila, Laguna Province and Cebu City will take effect on May 16, after the current ECQ ends on May 15.
Roque said the list of industries that will be allowed to reopen gradually was being finalized and will be announced Wednesday, May 13, at the latest.
Restrictions will gradually be eased in eight regions with a moderate risk of coronavirus infection, while the community quarantine will be lifted (except for minimum health standards) in eight other regions with a low risk of infection.
These are contained in Resolution No. 35 of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, which was approved Monday, May 11, Roque said.
Local government units have until May 13 to appeal their classification before the IATF screening and validation committee with the concurrence of the task force’s regional counterpart.
Roque said the task force considered the suggestions of mayors in Metro Manila, or National Capital Region.
The mayors said there should only be one classification for all 16 highly urbanized cities and the town of Pateros in Metro Manila.
They also said LGUs should be allowed to place certain barangays under lockdown, when necessary.
Metro Manila is divided into four zones: critical zone, or areas with more than 20 cases for every 100,000; containment zone, areas surrounding the critical zones; buffer zone; and outside of buffer zone.
Critical and containment zones will continue to be under ECQ. The industries that will be allowed to reopen gradually are those located in buffer and outside of buffer zones, Roque said. (JKV, KFD, GCM, JOB, RTF, SunStar Philippines)