ILOILO City – Because the city remains under general community quarantine (GCQ), it is not allowing risky mass gatherings, not even the military’s peace summit.
“They should talk to Secretary Delfin Lorenzana,” Mayor Jerry Treñas told Panay News.
Lorenzana is the secretary of the Department of National Defense. He is also the chairperson of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 that is strictly enforcing public health safety protocols to stop the spread of the viral disease.
Activist-turned-military whistleblower Jeffrey Celiz slammed the city government for not hosting the Nov. 10 “Panay Peace Summit” of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC).
“We are under GCQ. We cannot allow mass gatherings,” said Treñas, stressing that the city government is not reckless and it knows its urgent priorities. Right now, it is keeping its residents safe from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Mass gatherings could aid in the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
NTF ELCAC held Thursday’s peace summit in Iloilo province’s component city of Passi, some 56 kilometers north of Iloilo City.
Lorenzana, whose Defense department has jurisdiction over the NTF ELCAC, has long been appealing for public cooperation to flatten the COVID-19 curve.
“Strictly implement the health protocols and follow the campaign plan developed by the NTF (National Task Force) – the PDITR: protect, detect, isolate, treat, and reintegrate,” he said in September.
The PDITR should be observed in work areas, homes and public transportation to prevent the infection from spreading, according to Lorenzana.
“The NTF has disseminated this to businesses, regional task forces, and LGUs (local government units). If everyone follows this plan, we will not only flatten the curve but bring it down,” said Lorenzana.
In a radio interview over DYRI RMN Iloilo, Celiz wondered, “Ngaa indi maobra sang syudad sang Iloilo (to host the peace summit)” when Passi City and the municipality of Tapaz, Capiz could do it despite being under community quarantine, too.
But Celiz conveniently skirted the fact that Iloilo City is under GCQ while the provinces of Iloilo and Capiz are under the more lenient modified GCQ.
The military itself repudiated Celiz’s insinuation that the city government rejected hosting the peace summit on a whim.
While, indeed, the vast Iloilo Sports Complex in La Paz district was initially considered a venue for the peace summit, there were logistical concerns, said Major Cenon Pancito, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.
Around 3,000 people initially signified to join the peace summit.
“It was not feasible kaya nailipat sa Passi,” said Pancito.
In fact, they even reduced the number of participants in consideration of health protocols to avoid the spread of coronavirus.
Pancito also acknowledged that they did not have enough time to prepare for such a big gathering.
“We planned the peace summit for less than a month only,” he said.
Pancito said the NTF-ELCAC still plans to hold a peace summit in Iloilo City but “probably next year.”
Iloilo City’s GCQ status is until the end of this year.
Just this October, the city was among the 18 LGUs in the country classified as “high-risk” areas due to high daily case load, attack rate, or high hospitalization occupancy, according to a group of experts monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country, OCTA Research./PN
