Will Cebu City revert back to GCQ status?

Today is the day of reckoning for Cebu City. Do we continue staying under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) or we do we shift to a General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and start reopening our stalled businesses which, by the way, cannot function unless our people can avail of our public transportation. Yesterday President Rodrigo Duterte was supposed to announce the updated quarantine classifications of areas, a day after the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases breached 85,000 as predicted by experts.

As presidential spokesman Harry Roque said, the government's pandemic task force already has recommendations but some local governments are still appealing their classification. When the media pressed Roque about Metro Manila's chances of returning to the stricter MECQ, Roque did not give a direct answer. However he said, "Metro Manila will be a living experiment and it’s an experiment that we believe we can be successful at, and it will be something that we can be proud of," he said, noting that the decision would be based on case doubling rate and critical care capacity.

Again, I would like to reiterate that we Cebuanos have grown tired and weary being under the world’s longest lockdown, but we only have 400-plus deaths, which is not really significant. This is why I think, and I guess our minds have coincided with Gov. Gwen Garcia, that the time has come to restart our economy. I saw her on her news report which we showed on MyTV when she inaugurated the Port of Maya and went to Malapascua, which is a major tourism destination in the north of Cebu. We really appreciate her for going out of her way to help restart the economy.

Supposedly, some specific tourism activities would formally resume today in Cebu, more than four months into the coronavirus pandemic that has not only restricted people’s movement but also crippled the local economy. This supposed resumption of tourism activities is seen to spark hope that the economy in Cebu could finally gain back its momentum, especially since most towns and cities in the province rely on tourism as their main economic driver. This is very true.

As an example, Governor Garcia, along with the Provincial Tourism Task Force, will lead activities related to the reopening of tourist attractions starting in the town of Oslob. At this point, I certainly hope that the whale sharks are still where they have always been. Mind you, a friend of mine showed me a video of a pod of orcas between Cebu and Bohol. I never even thought that orcas could be found in this part of the world.

Anyway, we read a news report from an Oslob town official that they lost over P30 million in revenues after tourists were barred from seeing their famed tourist attraction in compliance with government protocols in the fight against COVID-19. Was that figure a monthly figure?

Meanwhile, Governor Garcia assured that the public that the resumption of the specific tourism activities will follow strict protocol to ensure safety of the tourists and participants. To implement this plan, she issued Executive Order 20-A providing safety protocols and guidelines to be followed for the resumption of tourism-related activities. We hope that the people in the tourism industry will carefully watch that their guests are protected against getting contaminated by the virus.

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There is a brewing issue that could explode into another territorial dispute for us in the Philippines. In a tweet last Monday, July 27, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin Jr. threatened the United States Embassy over its tweet mentioning Sabah as part of Malaysia. He said that "Sabah is not in Malaysia if you want to have anything to do with the Philippines," Locsin wrote, quoting the US Embassy's Twitter account that reported on a donation to Filipino repatriates who arrived in Zamboanga and Tawi-Tawi from Sabah.

In the end, Sec. Locsin not only publicly corrected the country's defense ally on an unofficial channel but also revived a dormant territorial and historical claim of the Philippines over the Malaysian state in the northern part of Borneo. Mind you, this has always been an issue that has always been left hanging. Perhaps, we should let the International Court of Justice in The Hague solve this unresolved issue. Kudos for Sec. Locsin for reviving this case.

Will Cebu City revert back to GCQ status?