DILG: Local chief execs want Metro Manila to remain in GCQ
MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila's local chief executives generally want the National Capital Region to stay under general community quarantine, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Monday.
"We’ve noticed our citizens are really being careful now. Despite having more transportation options resuming, they still don’t go out as much," Año said in an interview aired over ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.
Año held the same logic before the first shift to GCQ in June, saying at the time: "We assume that people are more disciplined now and that they will still follow health protocols."
The DILG chief also added that Metro Manila's mayors were looking at further easing business and travel restrictions in a bid to further resuscitate the country's pandemic-stricken economy. Earlier on Sunday, local governments were also "enjoined" in a joint advisory signed by the interior, labor, and trade departments.
"Of course, the threat persists since we haven’t flattened the curve. So anytime you can get infected," he added.
READ: Eased curfews, staggered work shifts urged amid economic reopening
Palace spokesperson Harry Roque later also disclosed that President Rodrigo Duterte is set to announce Monday night the quarantine classification that will last for the entirety of November.
Though the recommendations of mayors are non-binding, the chief executive has historically voted in favor of the decisions of the Metro Manila Council.
As of this post, Metro Manila, Bacolod, Tacloban, Iloilo City, Batangas and Iligan are under GCQ until end-October while the rest of the country remains under modified GCQ.
According to the health department's latest case bulletin issued Monday afternoon, the coronavirus caseload in the Philippines stands at 371,630. There are still over 36,000 active cases in the country, or patients who have still not recovered nor passed away from the illness.
Over half a year into the pandemic, the national government is still wrestling with curbing the spread of the pathogen, with the Philippines still being under the longest recorded quarantine in the world after 223 days of community quarantine.
Daily additions in coronavirus cases are still being reported in the thousands—marking the only country in the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organization to be doing so. The Philippines also has the 20th highest number of coronavirus cases in the world and the highest number of confirmed patients in Southeast Asia. — Franco Luna
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