Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos said the quarantine pass system that was used during the past implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) would again be observed when the National Capital Region (NCR) returns to ECQ later this month.
"Kung ano ang pinraktis noong araw, as much as possible, effective naman, napababa ang kaso. Yun na rin po ang gagawin na practice (As much as possible, let's practice what was done in the past. It's been effective in bringing down cases)," Abalos said Monday, August 2 during a virtual press briefing.
"Siguro ang gagawin ng each LGU (Maybe what the LGUs will do is), it would really depend if they would use the old ones or issue new ones through their barangay captains. They got their own procedures here," he said.
Abalos underscored that time is of the essence, that's why the Metro Manila or NCR mayors have decided to just go with the old system.
"'Yun na lang po muna gagawin namin ngayon because mabilisan po ito eh ((That’s what we will do because we need to act fast). We only have five days to go before ECQ," noted the MMDA chief.
The ECQ will be imposed over NCR from August 6 to 20 as a preemptive move against the spread of the Delta variant. Delta has been described by experts as the more contagious and dangerous variant of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Speaking of the upcoming two-week ECQ, Abalos said that the uniform Metro Manila curfew during this period would be from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., or eight hours long.
This adds two hours to the current six-hour curfew, which lasts from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
"Napagbotohan po ito, unanimous po sila (This had been voted upon by the mayors and it was unanimous)," Abalos said.
He said that the directive on curfew doesn't need to have the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases since it's within the ambit of the local executives' authority.
"These kinds of regulations, within the power na po ng mga mayors. Hindi na po kailangan ng IATF approval (These kinds of regulations are within the power of the mayors. IATF approval isn't needed)."