LGUs, private sector get COVID-19 response burden
MANILA, Philippines — The government’s pandemic action plan is now in its “critical” phase, requiring “aggressive” testing and isolation of infected persons as well as greater involvement of local officials, especially in the enforcement of localized lockdowns.
This was according to Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the COVID-19 policy, who also stressed the need for government to strike a balance between ensuring public health and reopening the economy.
“In the second phase of our operational design, the challenge is to contain and manage the emerging new cases (while) at the same time, how we can continue our capacity building, particularly the expansion of our ICU (intensive care unit) beds and the resiliency of our vulnerable community,” Galvez said at a press briefing yesterday.
“What we will do in the second phase is we will shift the role to the LGUs (local government units), just like what (Quezon City) Mayor Joy (Belmonte) is doing, localized lockdown,” he said. “The implementation of different strategies on prevention, detection, isolation, treatment and reintegration will be given to the LGUs.”
Galvez explained that the first phase of the action plan was implemented from March to June, while the second phase would be enforced from July to September. The third phase, meanwhile, will start in October and last until December.
“If we look at the data, there is an increase in new cases because we have loosened our restrictions, at the same time we have what we call the opening of the economy... So, in order to effectively manage COVID cases, the responsibility now shifts to the LGU and to the private companies and to the individual citizen,” he said.
“We are enjoining all the LGUs, the private companies and the individual citizens to share the responsibility by having what we call the localized lockdown in barangay and street, building and massive education info campaign for the strict enforcement and discipline on the minimum health standard,” he pointed out.
In a separate interview, Galvez also thumbed down the proposal for total lockdown in cities and provinces across the country, saying a better option is “targeted and surgical” lockdowns. Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, for one, emphasized that the province cannot afford to go back to the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
“Just to feed our constituents is impossible, no Bayanihan grant part 2 is forthcoming,” Lacson said.
Sen. Sonny Angara also cited the dangers of Metro Manila reverting to modified ECQ.
“The economy will probably collapse if we go back to MECQ and we’re just postponing the inevitable, because that type of approach, it’s not really the model approach,” Angara said in an interview over ANC. “The model approach is trying to live with COVID, not trying to avoid COVID. At some point in time, you have to face it and you have to learn how to live with the virus, you have to increase your testing,” Angara added.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said some of the new initiatives to combat the disease – including pooled testing – will start in Metro Manila.
“So it’s not completely an experiment. Perhaps the right term is ‘pilot’ and ‘modeling.’ Perhaps ‘experiment’ is not the right word. But we have not done pooled testing in the Philippines, although it was conducted in Wuhan, in South Korea, Vietnam, South Korea, Germany, Israel, places that were able to control the spread of COVID-19,” Roque said.
Roque previously said the government would adopt an “invigorated” response to COVID-19 to address the spike in infections.
In a television interview last Wednesday, Roque said there would be “major changes” in the way the government handles the crisis, including building more isolation facilities and expanding testing efforts.
The Palace spokesman has also declared that Metro Manila would be a “living experiment” that the government would be successful at.
Galvez admitted that the spike in cases in Cebu City was caused by “inefficiency” in contact tracing.
“We will focus on prevention, detection, tracing and testing and efficient isolation... We also have to remind our people that they have to implement minimum health standards,” the chief implementer of the government’s pandemic policy said.
“On how to immediately address the current surge, we will conduct what we call aggressive testing, especially during the lockdowns, and effective contact tracing,” he added.
Roque had also said about 60,000 Grab drivers would undergo PCR testing as part of the “invigorated” COVID-19 response.
Keep GCQ for Metro
In a radio interview aired over dzMM, Metro Manila Council chairman and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said the consensus among metro mayors is the extension of general community quarantine (GCQ).
He said it’s a position they already relayed to the regional director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government on Wednesday.
“Most mayors want an extended GCQ,” Olivarez said in Filipino.
In reaching the consensus, he said the mayors acknowledged the importance of opening the economy while stopping the spread of COVID-19 at the same time.
“We know how hard it is for the public, but we could not prejudice the health protocols to fight off COVID-19,” the mayor stressed.
Olivarez, in the same interview, said local chief executives are also pushing for more localized lockdowns, already enforced in some cities. He said though that President Duterte would have the final say.
The Philippines, as of Wednesday, logged 85,486 COVID-19 cases, with 26,996 recoveries and 1,962 deaths.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Danilo Lim, for his part, said there was “no clamor” from Metro Manila mayors to revert to the stricter MECQ status next month.
He said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) will also recommend to the President an extension of GCQ in Metro Manila in August.
“It is not true that Metro Manila mayors recommended going back to MECQ. The recommendation of the IATF is to maintain the GCQ over Metro Manila. But that is not final, it still depends on the President’s approval,” Lim said.
“There is no clamor to go back to MECQ. That is false news,” Lim added.
But Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco said there was no discussion about the community quarantine status during the meeting, and that the meeting focused on curfew.
Caloocan administrator Oliver Hernandez, meanwhile, urged barangay officials to hold off issuing quarantine passes in preparation for a more stringent quarantine protocol in the city.
Without disclosing the city government’s plan, Hernandez pleaded for residents to wait for city hall’s announcement on a new system for quarantine passes.
“We will let you know about the effectivity of the new quarantine pass soon,” Hernandez said.
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy chief for operations Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar ordered police commanders to coordinate with barangay officials in enforcing health rules like the mandatory wearing of face masks and physical distancing.
Eleazar said tanods or village watchmen would enforce health protocols with guidance from policemen acting as quarantine control supervisors.
“The designation of QCS, or the PNP’s COVID Focal Persons, in every barangay in the country will help strengthen our fight to prevent the spread and further transmission of the coronavirus by making sure that the minimum health standard protocols would be properly and strictly enforced down to the barangay level,” he said in a statement.
“With the PNP and the local government units down to the barangay level now working together, we are confident that this will contribute a lot (to stop) the spread of the virus,” he said. – Ralph Villanueva, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Gilbert Bayoran, Emmanuel Tupas