Mayor Belmonte says ECQ instructions from national gov't are 'very vague'


By Noreen Jazul

Quezon City (QC) Mayor Joy Belmonte said the instructions given by the national government on the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) are still "very vague."

Quezon City (QC) Mayor Joy Belmonte (Facebook / Manila Bulletin) Quezon City (QC) Mayor Joy Belmonte
(Facebook / Manila Bulletin)

In an interview with GMA’s 24 Oras, Belmont said the local government units (LGUs) were just given “broad strokes.”

“Yung mga detalye ay marami pang kailangan linawin. Paano ‘yung mga walang private cars? ‘Mayor Joy, papasundo mo ba kaming lahat kung pupunta kami sa grocery?’ Eh syempre sa laki at lawak ng ating lungsod, it is logistically impossible to do that,” she said.

(Many details need to be clarified. How about those without private cars? They say, ‘Mayor Joy, will you transport us to and from the grocery?’ With the size and scope of our city, it is logistically impossible to do that.)

“Iyong mga daily wage earners, sagot ba ng city government, ang lahat ng pangangailangan nila at ng kanilang mga pamilya for the rest of the month?” she continued.

(How about the daily wage earners, will the government shoulder their needs and the needs of their families for the rest of the month?)

Belmonte, meanwhile, said the QC government has already started crafting guidelines on how it will choose patients to be admitted to the hotel-quarantine facility in the city which will open on Thursday.

“Sino dapat ang manatili diyan vis-a vis ‘yang maiiwan sa hospital at ... ‘yung proper decorum or etiquette or protocols for moving patients and for selecting which patient should be moved,” she said.

(Who should stay in the facility vis-a vis those who will remain in hospitals, and... the proper decorum or etiquette or protocols for moving patients and for selecting which patient should be moved.)

As of Wednesday, there are 29 persons in QC who have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).