Metro Manila mayors must be unified to extend ECQ
Published May 8, 2020 12:00 am
By Jean Fernando
Metro Manila Council Chairman and Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said Thursday, May 7, that the mayors of Metro Manila must have a unified stand whether to extend or not the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for another 15 days in the metropolis.
Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez (Mayor Edwin Olivarez FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“All mayors of Metro Manila must have "one stand" regarding the ECQ extension when we hold our online meeting via Zoom, today (Saturday),” said Olivarez, stressing that they will pass resolution during the afternoon virtual meeting.
Olivarez said that some mayors are eyeing a 15-day extension of the ECQ while some chief executives want that their city be placed under the general community quarantine in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said they favor a metro-wide extension since the cities and the municipality of Pateros in the metropolis are "very interconnected," meaning residents usually live in one city and work in another one. “
Hindi pwede na yung isang city ay nasa-ECQ tapos yung isang katabing city naman ay nasa General Community Quarantine (GCQ). Magulo yun. Dapat kung ECQ ay ECQ lahat,” he explained. (If one city is under ECQ and then the other is under General Community Qaurantine, it will only create confusion. So if it is ECQ then all the cities must be under ECQ)
Under GCQ, some forms of mass transport and establishments are allowed to resume operations but at a reduced capacity.
Olivarez said the decision on whether or not to extend the ECQ in Metro Manila will be up to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“It will be up to the AITF to decide since the MMC is just a recommendatory body,” the mayor said.
The MMC is the governing board and policy-making body of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
Olivarez said that if they passed a resolution recommending a 15-day extension of the ECQ in Metro Manila then the AITF will reject the council’s proposal, “there is nothing we can do.”
The ECQ was first declared March 17 covering the entire Luzon. It's been extended in several areas, including Metro Manila—twice or until May 15.
In his personal opinion, Olivarez said that he will also recommend to the IATF to extend the ECQ since COVID-19 remains most prevalent in Metro Manila with over 6,000 of the nearly 10,000 cases since it started spreading in the country.
Quezon City continues to have the highest number of cases out of all Metro Manila cities, with 1,453 cases, but it also has the biggest population. Manila comes next with 749 cases, followed by Parañaque with 555, and Makati with 471.
Health officials reported that San Juan and Valenzuela are among the Metro Manila cities that have shown a slowdown in the growth of COVID-19 cases.
The IATF’s basis for lifting the ECQ will depend on the level of coronavirus spread in an area, its hospital capacity, and the state of its economy, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.
As of Thursday, Department of Health (DoH) data showed that of the 10,343 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country, 6,709 of which are in Metro Manila.
Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez (Mayor Edwin Olivarez FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“All mayors of Metro Manila must have "one stand" regarding the ECQ extension when we hold our online meeting via Zoom, today (Saturday),” said Olivarez, stressing that they will pass resolution during the afternoon virtual meeting.
Olivarez said that some mayors are eyeing a 15-day extension of the ECQ while some chief executives want that their city be placed under the general community quarantine in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said they favor a metro-wide extension since the cities and the municipality of Pateros in the metropolis are "very interconnected," meaning residents usually live in one city and work in another one. “
Hindi pwede na yung isang city ay nasa-ECQ tapos yung isang katabing city naman ay nasa General Community Quarantine (GCQ). Magulo yun. Dapat kung ECQ ay ECQ lahat,” he explained. (If one city is under ECQ and then the other is under General Community Qaurantine, it will only create confusion. So if it is ECQ then all the cities must be under ECQ)
Under GCQ, some forms of mass transport and establishments are allowed to resume operations but at a reduced capacity.
Olivarez said the decision on whether or not to extend the ECQ in Metro Manila will be up to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“It will be up to the AITF to decide since the MMC is just a recommendatory body,” the mayor said.
The MMC is the governing board and policy-making body of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
Olivarez said that if they passed a resolution recommending a 15-day extension of the ECQ in Metro Manila then the AITF will reject the council’s proposal, “there is nothing we can do.”
The ECQ was first declared March 17 covering the entire Luzon. It's been extended in several areas, including Metro Manila—twice or until May 15.
In his personal opinion, Olivarez said that he will also recommend to the IATF to extend the ECQ since COVID-19 remains most prevalent in Metro Manila with over 6,000 of the nearly 10,000 cases since it started spreading in the country.
Quezon City continues to have the highest number of cases out of all Metro Manila cities, with 1,453 cases, but it also has the biggest population. Manila comes next with 749 cases, followed by Parañaque with 555, and Makati with 471.
Health officials reported that San Juan and Valenzuela are among the Metro Manila cities that have shown a slowdown in the growth of COVID-19 cases.
The IATF’s basis for lifting the ECQ will depend on the level of coronavirus spread in an area, its hospital capacity, and the state of its economy, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said.
As of Thursday, Department of Health (DoH) data showed that of the 10,343 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country, 6,709 of which are in Metro Manila.