The mayors of the local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila will each submit their position papers to the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on the impending opening of cinemas and leisure establishments.

This, according to Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro, was agreed upon by the mayors of the metropolis during their virtual meeting on Monday night (February 15), saying this is to make a proper consensus.

“Sa pag-uusap namin kagabi ng mga mayors, magsusubmit kami ng mga posisyon ng bawat LGU para makabuo ng consensus dahil ang Metro Manila ay isang contiguous area at bilang contiguous area, ang virus ay wala namang boundary kaya kailangan natin  ng isang uniform position kung ano talaga ang nanaisin ng buong Metro Manila area (In the meeting of the mayors last night, we agreed to submit the position of each local government to make a consensus because Metro Manila is a contiguous area and being contiguous area, the virus has no boundary that’s why we should have a uniform position if what we want to happen in the metropolis),” he said over an interview with DZMM.

Teodoro said the mayors are afraid that the gains of the LGUs during the imposition of lockdowns would go to waste due to the opening of cinemas and other leisure establishments.

“Gaano ba talaga kalaki ang epekto sa ekonomiya sa pagbubukas ng mga sinehan? Bakit hindi pagtuunan ang manufacturing, food processing, food production dahil ito ang mga malalaking sektor ng ekonomiya na kailangan nating tingnan, suportahan, at tulungan upang ma-stimulate at mabawasan ang pandemic-induced recession (How big is the impact of the opening of cinemas? Why don’t we focus on the manufacturing, food processing, food production because these are key sectors that we need to support and assist in order to stimulate the economy, and reduce the pandemic-induced recession),” the mayor said.

According to the Metro Manila mayors, they were not properly consulted on the decision of IATF to allow cinemas and leisure parks to open amid the pandemic.

On February 15, the IATF deferred the opening of cinemas and leisure parks to March 31 in “order to give local governments time to craft guidelines to prevent a spike of COVID-19 cases.”