Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año stressed Monday, June 22, that removal of quarantine classifications will be possibly enforced if herd immunity from the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is achieved in the country.

In an interview over ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo, Año noted that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has yet to discuss the probability of doing away with the quarantine qualifications at this time as many areas are still under the general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

Citing as examples, Año said that Davao City and almost the whole Zamboanga Peninsula are now under the MECQ due to the surge of COVID-19 cases.

The DILG chief noted that the IATF will meet before the end of the month to present the recommendation of its Technical Working Group (TWG) where the President will base his decision on the next quarantine classifications for certain places.

With regard to the COVID-19 vaccines, Año said that the country is “supply drive’’, explaining that only the doses that arrive in the country may be distributed to the local government units (LGUs).

“Pero sa mga succeeding months maraming (COVID-19 vaccines) and darating (But in the succeeding months more vaccines will arrive),’’ Año said.

He revealed that this June 10 million COVID-19 vaccines of varying brands had arrived in the country with 10 million more expected in July.

“Pero kapag dumating itong inorder nating Pfizer (vaccine), 40 million talagang madami talaga yan (But if the Pfizer brand arrived, 40 million that is many),’’ he added.

Año added that the LGU’s expeditious rollout of the vaccines in their respective areas will be replenished once the vaccines arrive.

He further explained that the swift replenishment of the vaccines will prompt the LGUs to prepare for any eventuality once the scenario of the arriving huge volumes of vaccines set in.

“Kapag dumating yung large volume niyan (vaccines) (when the large volume arrives) they should be prepared at saka yung manpower kailangan talaga ready tayo, additional vaccination sites, cold storage areas at saka manpower at kung manpower ay kukulangin kahit gaano karaming vaccines ay hindi mo rin maiinject (and the manpower should be ready, additional vaccination sites, cold storage areas and manpower and if there is insufficient manpower even if there are many available vaccines these could not be injected),’’ Año emphasized.

At present, Año disclosed that Manila is the LGU with the largest number of individuals vaccinated everyday.

“Hindi sila (Manila) bumababa ng 25,000 a day so it's really a very very good example yung City of Manila (Individuals vaccinated in Manila have not gone down below 25,000 a day. This is really a very, very good example that the City of Manila exemplifies),’’ Año noted.

When pressed to comment on some LGUs preferring quarantine classifications to be suspended, Año stressed that the localities have the power under the Local Government Code but “national classifications’’ need to be continuously imposed since the targeted vaccination population level has not been reached.

“Ang ginagawa ng ating mga LGUs ngayon like for example ang mayor puwede siyang magdefine ng classification sa kanyang mga barangay. Ang probinsya puwede (enforce classification) rin sa kanya kanyang municipalities at component cities (What is being done by the LGUs now like for example the mayor is he can define the classification in his barangays. The province can also do this in their municipalities and component cities),’’ the DILG chief said.

Año said that the LGUs need to affirm with the local IATF on the quarantine classifications in their areas but the national IATF need to define the classifications in highly urbanized cities and provinces as mandated under Executive Order 112.