Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila Broderick Pabillo welcomed the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to allow religious gatherings in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) up to 10 percent capacity of the venue.

On Friday, the IATF said religious gatherings will now be allowed to up to 10 percent of a venue's capacity starting July 10 in areas under GCQ.

The prelate said "this is a good development" compared to limiting the attendance to 10 persons only.

"There is a big difference between 10 persons and 10%," Pabillo said in an interview.

He was referring to the previous decision of the IATF to allow the holding of religious gatherings in areas under GCQ but limited to 10 participants.

Pabillo at that time described the limitation set by the government as "unreasonable" and "laughable" since there are many big churches in the country.

Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco said this latest development was a good sign.

"This is a good sign. It is also a good start in reopening our churches," he said.

"We will follow the government protocol in helping prevent the spread of coronavirus. That is, (through) physical distancing, taking temperature of people before entering the church, and so on," added Ongtioco.

Father Douglas Badong, parochial vicar of Quiapo Church, also welcomed the decision as this would mean we can now accommodate more people inside the church.

"That's good news. It means we can have more people attend the mass especially on a Friday," he said.