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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider To extend or not to extend ECQ? Metro mayors say it's IATF's call

To extend or not to extend ECQ? Metro mayors say it's IATF's call

Published Aug 18, 2021 03:27 pm

Metro Manila mayors will leave it to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) whether or not to extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) beyond Aug. 20.

MMDA Chairman Benhur Abalos (Ali Vicoy/ File photo/ MANILA BULLETIN)

"They would defer to the sound and wise judgment of the IATF," Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos said in a virtual press briefing Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 18. The presser is still ongoing as of this posting.

Abalos is co-chairman of the Metro Manila Council (MMC), which is composed of the 17 mayors in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Abalos had a marathon meeting with the local chief executives Tuesday. Despite this, they couldn't come up with a clear recommendation for the pandemic task force as to what should be the new quarantine protocol.

Asked about the failure to arrive at a recommendation despite the clear surge of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in NCR, Abalos said that the data presented to the MMC was different from what they were seeing on the ground.

He said the move to defer to the IATF "was voted upon" by the mayors. The IATF will vote on the next quarantine protocol tomorrow, Aug. 19.

"We don't know if it's ECQ or modified ECQ (MECQ)," Abalos said, referring to the possible outcome of the IATF vote. "Ang nakikita ko is puro granular lockdowns (What I see is a lot of granular lockdowns)."

The MMDA chief said he will be present in the IATF meeting tomorrow.

Whatever the decision will be, Abalos said the MMC has committed to further ramp up vaccinations against the COVID-19.

"Hindi kami titigil, kahit sa gabi (We will not stop, we will even do it at nighttime)," he said.

Metro Manila or NCR was placed under ECQ--the strictest quarantine level possible--last Aug. 6 as a way to halt the spread of the more dangerous Delta variant of COVID-19. The lockdown was supposed to last only two weeks.

Related Tags

ECQ 81821 extension METRO MAYORS MMDA Benhur Abalos IATF MMC
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