The proposal to place the entire country under the least restrictive quarantine level by March as part of further reopening the economy is now under study by President Duterte, Malacañang said Tuesday.

The President is also expected to discuss the recommendations made by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to ease movement restrictions in a meeting with the Cabinet next Monday, according to his spokesman Harry Roque.

In a meeting with the President Monday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua asked the President to consider and approve the NEDA recommendation to place the entire country under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) starting March 1, 2021 to balance the opening of the economy and the control of the coronavirus.

He said localized lockdown could instead be implemented at the village or municipal level to curb any spread of the illness.

Among the NEDA recommendations are relaxing of the age restrictions of people allowed to go out of homes, expansion of public transportation operations, and conduct of pilot face-to-face classes in areas with low risk of coronavirus infection.

Such recommendations have already been approved by the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF), composed of several Cabinet members.

"Rekomendasyon pa lamang ito. Pinag-aaralang mabuti ng Pangulo ang rekomendasyon na ito (This is just a recommendation. The President is studying carefully the recommendation)," Roque said during a televised press briefing. 

"Ang sabi niya nais niyang ito ay mapag-usapan sa susunod na Cabinet meeting sa ika-22 ng buwan na ito (The President said he wanted to discuss the matter in the Cabinet meeting set on Feb. 22)," he added.

Roque said the government task force supports the NEDA recommendations to further open the economy in a bid to save people from hunger and poverty during the pandemic. 

He noted that NEDA study showed more people are affected by hunger, poverty, and deaths from other diseases, compared to those affected by the coronavirus illness. 

Citing a NEDA report, he said the country now has an additional 23.7 million hungry people, 4.5 million poor and 2.7 million unemployed since the start of the pandemic last year. Around 480, 338 have died due to other illnesses from Jan. to Nov. 2020.

In terms of COVID cases, Roque said the country has recorded more than 550,000 cases of infection with more than 11,500 deaths. 

The socioeconomic planning secretary pressed for the further reopening of the economy to address the rise in hunger incidence in the country. He also expressed concern that the total income loss has reached P1.04 trillion since the strict pandemic lockdown was enforced in March 2020. 

"So on average po araw-araw, 2.8 billion pesos po ng mga sahod, ng mga kita ang nawawala (So on a daily average, there is a P2.8 billion in income loss)," he said. "On average po ang annual income loss ng isang manggagawa ay P23,000 per worker (The average annual income loss of a worker is P23,000)," he added.

Chua also recommended that persons between five years old and 70 years old should be gradually allowed to leave their houses with appropriate safeguards. He said the young should be accompanied by their parents when going out. They may also be allowed to go to "more open areas," not necessarily go to shopping malls, he added.

The government currently exempts persons between 15 and 65 years from the strict stay-at-home rule during the community quarantine.

"Ang proposal po namin, i-gradual natin 'yong pag-expand (of coverage from) age five to 70 years old. At puwede nating gawing dahan-dahan in increments of five years, also with appropriate safeguard (Our proposal is to gradually expand to age five to 70. We can gradually allow it in increments of five years also with appropriate safeguard),” he said.

Chua also suggested that the operations of public transportation should be expanded to 75 percent from the current 50 percent subject to minimum public health standards. He said more bike lanes should established while more inter-province bus operations should also be allowed.

The acting NEDA chief also recommended the resumption of dry run of in-person classes in low-risk areas, saying the coronavirus infections are under control.

Metro Manila, epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, remains under general community quarantine this month. Other areas under GCQ are Cordillera Administrative Region, Batangas, Tacloban City, Iligan City, Davao del Norte, Davao City, and Lanao del Sur. The rest of the country is now under under the least stringent MGCQ.