Amid criticisms over so many lockdown names, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año said on Monday, September 13, that he will recommend the use of just two classifications in containing the movement of the people as part of the effort in fighting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The first, he said, is the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) which will retain all the strictest restrictions and the other one is the General Community Quarantine (GCQ).
The catch, however, is that there will be alert levels under the GCQ.
Año himself admitted that the GCQ is different from the what the public is used to.
“The GCQ status will not look like the GCQ we are used to because once we implement the new system there will be certain activities particularly those in areas falling under the three Cs we called it the Closed, Crowded, and the Closed contact will be restricted or prohibited under specific alert levels,” he said during the Go Negosyo’s press conference.
The Alert Levels 1 to 4 shall be imposed in areas where there are granular lockdowns. Under Alert Level 4, the three Cs activities are not allowed. Under Alert Level 5, most sectors are not allowed to operate.
READ MORE: Pilot alert level restrictions in NCR eyed to start on Sept. 16 — DILG exec
Año, however, apologized for the postponement of the pilot testing last Sept. 8 due to the few concerns and clarifications needed to resolve.
He said the purpose of the pilot testing is to show that the granular lockdowns can be effective in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases while re-opening the country’s economy.
“Makita natin dito na ang mga LGUs ay magiging mas responsible sa kanilang mga nasasakupan at pwede nilang timplahin ang pagbubukas ng mga activities (We can see here that LGUs will be more responsible to their constituents and they can decide if they will open the activities),” Año said.
“Malalaman din natin mga issues na lalabas for the next two weeks para malaman natin kung itong bagong policy ay marerecommenda natin sa ating pangulo at pwede iadopt nationwide (We will also know the issues that will come up for the next two weeks so that we can know if this new policy can be recommended to our president and can be adopted nationwide),” he added.
The pilot area of the new policy that uses “alert level” restrictions is expected to be enforced in the National Capital Region (NCR) from Sept. 16 to 30.