“We don’t want to use the term because you are afraid to call it a lockdown. But it is a lockdown.” —President Duterte, Thursday, March 13, 2020
BETWEEN the day President Rodrigo Duterte announced the measures against the coronavirus on March 13 and the day the official resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) was issued, the word “lockdown” disappeared from the record.
The word “lockdown” conjures the image of a severe crisis, an extreme situation, which they fear may set off distress, if not panic.
Maybe the term would apply appropriately to an “enhanced community quarantine.” The President Monday (March 16) escalated the “general community quarantine” in Metro Manila to the “enhanced” stage and widened the area of quarantine to cover the entire Luzon.
Earlier, public officials tried to make the distinction between “general community quarantine,” which the IATF says it is, and “lockdown,” which the President said the initial order for Metro Manila was.
Reasons it is not
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said it was not a lockdown in Metro Manila because only the movement of people, not of goods, was restricted. Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap shunned the word “lockdown,” saying people can still travel out of his province, they just cannot get in during the period of the ban. Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia said a lockdown involves stoppage of ingress and egress. In Cebu, the prohibition applies only to incoming visitors, not the outgoing travelers.
The Cebu governor’s travel ban suspends flights from Metro Manila and Dumagute City; then from Cagayan de Oro City, Legaspi City and New Clark City; and eventually all domestic flights to Cebu. Domestic air travelers are now shut out. International passengers can get in except those from Spain, who must undergo a two-week quarantine. But those who are here can fly out; they just can’t fly in during the period of the ban.
As to sea travelers, those from Dumaguete City, San Carlos City and Escalente City in Negros Occidental and Guihulngan City from Negros Oriental are told to keep out. Starting March 17, no sea travelers will be allowed to enter Cebu.
It’s not a lockdown, Governor Gwen said. And neither is it a general community quarantine, she said.
The confusing part
Which must confuse the terms, considering that:
[] In Metro Manila, the partial or qualified ban on travel into the capital region (its 16 cities and one town) was part of the component of a “general community quarantine.” Travel would be restricted more under an “enhanced community quarantine” with higher visibility of armed troops to enforce the order.
[] In Cebu City, the general quarantine ordered by Mayor Edgardo Labella also involves a travel ban: it shuts down seaports in the city to passenger arrivals, allowing only deliveries of cargoes of essential goods.
The travel ban
Yes, the quarantines in Metro Manila and Cebu City include limits on operations of malls and shops, suspension of classes, “social distancing” measures, running of public transport, a curfew for minors, and the like, which are aimed to lessen or slow down the spread of the infections. But the travel ban is also in the package.
The governor’s thrust is directed mostly at the travelers who have the capacity to infect Cebuanos with the virus. But she does not consider it as measures in a state of quarantine, for which she said Cebu province, under the inter-agency task force guidelines, is “not yet qualified, thank God.”
Apparently, the governor and mayors of Cebu still have to coordinate on the battle against coronavirus. While the individual efforts of each LGU leader are admirable and deserve support, the governor and mayors need to harmonize plans and operations affecting Cebu.
On the travel ban, for example, highly urbanized cites of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue are deemed “independent cities not under provincial supervision.” Yet, they are affected because the airport and some seaports are located in their jurisdiction and many of their workers may reside outside Cebu. On curfew of minors, time and duration must be synchronized among the LGUs. And on other aspects that may create contradicting rules.
Filling the vacuum
The IATF guidelines, focused on Metro Manila, have little to offer for other local governments that are not in the National Capital Region. Task force rules on quarantines, for example, are limited to the number of confirmed cases before a city, town, or province can set up a quarantine. They don’t mention anything about travel bans imposed by LGUs in the countryside.
The governors in Cebu and Bohol, seeing the vacuum, rushed to fill it. In a time of crisis that threatens thousands of their constituents, they cannot be quick enough.