Cebu City won’t ask IATF to extend ECQ

CEBU, Philippines —  The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will be left to decide on what will be the city’s quarantine status after the extended enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) ends on May 31.

Despite the rising number of COVID-19 cases, however, the city government assured that it is not making a recommendation to the IATF for another ECQ extension. City Legal Officer Rey Gealon said the decision will be based solely on the results of the assessment of the members of the task force.

"Ang atong mayor nagdepende usab sa assessment sa experts, medical personnel nga nakakita ining atong tanan nga mga paningkamot," he said.

As of yesterday, Cebu City has already a total of 2,013 cases with 394 recoveries.

As the deadline gets nearer, city residents are asking what the city’s status will be after ECQ. Will the city transition to modified ECQ? Or will the city directly transition to general community quarantine?

Gealon, who is also Mayor Edgardo Labella’s spokesperson, said these questions will be answered after the IATF assessment.

Earlier, Labella said the voice of the experts will play an important role in making the decision with regard to the state the city will be under after May 31.

“We have to be very careful, circumspect about this,” Labella said in an earlier interview.

On May 15, Labella issued an executive order placing the city, which is classified as high-risk for COVID-19 infections, under modified ECQ.

The order came after President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he approved the recommendation to extend the ECQ in Metro Manila, Laguna and Cebu City until May 31 with modifications in protocols.

Gealon said the night after the MECQ declaration, the IATF-EID issued a resolution granting the city's request to stay under ECQ. Also remained under ECQ is Mandaue City.  FPL (FREEMAN)