EXPLAINER: Cebu City set apart from Cebu Province in new phase of Covid-19 campaign

SunStar File/Sugbo News
SunStar File/Sugbo News

THE SITUATION. Cebu Province, along with Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City, is now classified as "moderate risk" and will shift from ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) to GCQ (general community quarantine).

Cebu City, in stark contrast, is categorized as "high risk" and will remain under ECQ but modified this time. As of Sunday, May 10, Cebu City had the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country: 1,571 compared to Quezon City's 1,558 cases.

The changes of quarantine status -- approved by President Duterte and announced Tuesday, May 12 - will take effect Saturday, May 16, until May 31.

Appeal to IATF

Earlier, the three cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu were reported as having asked that they remain under ECQ until May 31. Cebu City got its wish; it will stay under modified enhanced community quarantine or MECQ. Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu though are lumped with Cebu Province in the scale-down from ECQ to GCQ, from high risk to moderate risk.

LGUs were given up to May 13 (Wednesday) to appeal to the IATF screening and validation committee with the approval of the regional IATF headed by Health Regional Director James Bernados.

Not the same assault

For now, Cebu is being cut up, with Cebu City taken out of the geographic union. And the province, with Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City, is being treated separately.

Particularly interesting because up to this week, the tri-city alliance has stood strong and robust. Metro Manila, in contrast, has pushed and kept its being a compact group or unit. Apparently, IATF views Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu as being more geographically part of the province and shuns the claim that 80 per cent of the Cebu economy is located in the three cities.

The IATF categories rest more on the fact that the assault of the coronavirus is not the same in all areas of Cebu. Dissimilar too are the conditions for reopening trade and business.

Basis for classification

The IATF rule is that a high-risk area -- such as the National Capital Region, Laguna and Cebu City -- has case doubling time of Covid-19 cases in less than seven days and have utilization rate for their critical-health-care facilities at more than 70 per cent.

Calibrated reopening ("slowly and little by little") is based on the degree of controlling the epidemic that an LGU has achieved.

Savaged economy

As Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia pointed out in a live-streamed talk this week from the Capitol, the province with Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu is not similarly situated as Cebu City.

She sees the change of status from ECQ to GCQ as the opportunity to repair and heal gradually the economy that the epidemic has savaged. She didn't give figures for Cebu but Dole earlier said over two million workers nationwide have lost their jobs since March 16 when the lockdown was imposed.

Changes in activity

How much would the transition from ECQ to GCQ affect the rules that Capitol has enforced? Some specified industries will be allowed to reopen and some rules on movement and social activities may be relaxed.

IATF has given some idea: pretty much the same as those enforced under the general quarantine except on the economic thrusts.

Border rules

But Capitol may have something else in mind about social behavior of residents. Though it is expected to hew to the IATF guidelines, it may not be ready to open the province borders and allow totally free entry and exit.

Residents of the province and Cebu City will have to wait for Capitol rules under the new general quarantine. Why also the folk in Cebu City, which is already isolated in a sense from the island of Cebu? They will be affected by province GCQ rules, particularly on the matter of crossing borders.

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