Instead of an extended enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said he would rather have a deescalation of the restriction to a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) with granular lockdowns.
Lopez said during a televised briefing Tuesday, Aug. 17, that they would support the call of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) not to extend the ECQ beyond Aug. 20 in order to prevent further damage to the economy, including job losses.
"I also believe na puwede sanang mag-deescalate to MECQ at magbigay ng istriktong granular lockdown pero ito po ay magiging desisyon ng ating IATF (I also believe that we can deescalate to MECQ and enforce strict granular lockdowns but this will be up to the IATF)," Lopez said, referring to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
"Ito lang ay aming mungkahi dahil nagbigay na tayo ng two weeks na ECQ at yung restriction na yun ay marami talagang nagsarang negosyo at nawalan ng trabaho kaya po sa atin naman po ay gusto lang nating maibalik lang yung trabaho ng ating mga kababayan para mawala yung kagutuman at iba pang sakit na mas marami kaysa sa COVID (This is only our suggestion because we already went through two weeks of ECQ and that restriction has already closed many businesses and resulted to job losses. We just want our workers to get back to their jobs to stop hunger and other diseases)," Lopez added.
The secretary reiterated that the government is only balancing the ability of the country to reopen the economy and the capacity of its healthcare system.
"I will agree na balansehin ito at i-allow yung other parts of the economy to operate, gumawa na lang ng granular lockdown (I will agree to balance this and allow some parts of the economy to operate and just enforce granular lockdowns)," he said.
The DTI chief is also hopeful that once the country achieves a high vaccination rate and sufficient supply of vaccines, authorities will be able to recommend a change in protocol to allow establishments with fully-vaccinated workers to operate and let vaccinated consumers go out.
"Ibig sabihin po nun pwede tayong magluwag luwag doon sa mga vaccinated at para sa protection ng mga hindi vaccinated during lockdown sila po yung kailangang mag-ingat at mag-stay at home (That means that we can be less strict on vaccinated people and protect the unvaccinated ones by letting them stay at home)," Lopez said.