ILOILO City – Western Visayas remains under a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) at least until the end of the month, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) announced late last night.
The region shifted to MGCQ on June 1 – a transition phase between GCQ and the “new normal” when restrictions are further relaxed and become less necessary such as limiting people’s movement and public transportation, the operation of industries, and the presence of uniformed personnel to enforce community quarantine.
Department of Health (DOH) secretary Francisco Duque III made the announcement. He read IATF-EID Resolution 46-A approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The President said he would be conferring with businessmen in the days to come for the possible further modification of the community quarantines declared around the country.
“Tomorrow or the day after, after I talk to the businessmen, then we can decide whether or not to modify the lockdown we have imposed,” President Duterte said.
Early this week, Mayor Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City expressed confidence that by today, June 16, this city and the rest of Western Visayas would be placed under the “new normal”.
The region has not recorded any new local transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), said Treñas.
Confirmed cases trickling in were mostly returning overseas workers or locally stranded individuals, he pointed out.
As of yesterday, Western Visayas had 147 COVID-19 cases – Aklan, six; Antique, 14; Capiz, six; Guimaras, zero; Iloilo province, 21; Negros Occidental, three; Bacolod City, 11; Iloilo City, 19; and repatriates, 67.
According to DOH Region 6, of these cases 101 already recovered while 11 died, leaving the region with 35 active cases.
The latest to recover was a 34-year-old male from Alimodian, Iloilo.
Yesterday, with no hint from the task force on the next status of the region’s quarantine, Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo and Gov. Samuel Gumarin of Guimaras issued executive orders extending the MGCQ in their respective provinces.
Treñas, the governors of Antique, Aklan, Capiz, and Negros Occidental were expected to make similar moves following the task force’s announcement last night.
Earlier yesterday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte would be considering the economy as well as the welfare of the Filipino people when deciding on the community quarantine status.
“The right to life prevails. Kinakailangan pangalagaan ang kalusugan ng lahat pero nandiyan din iyong karapatan na magkaroon ng hanapbuhay,” Roque said in a virtual press conference in Malacañang.
The IATF-EID recommended the shift of the entire Western Visayas to MGCQ on June 1 for being “low-risk” to COVID-19 infection.
Mayor Treñas hoped local chief executives would continue their dialogue on how to rev up the local economy slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Gina-push ta gid ang economic recovery sa Region 6,” he said.
He acknowledged the public trepidation on the “new normal” but stressed the need to continue moving forward.
“Sa aton tanan nga mga pumoluyo nagapangabay gid ko nga buloligan naton ini. Tanan kita may kulba. But as I was telling our governors, we all have to live with this in the meantime,” he said.
Treñas had a meeting with the provincial governors of the region to map out an economic recovery program. They agreed on five areas of cooperation:
* strengthen intra-regional market linkages and supply chains of local producers
* scale-up production of high-demand products
* facilitate free movement of people to enable labor mobility and promote domestic tourism
* improve health system capacity primarily in COVID-19 testing and contact tracing
* invest in backbone information communications technology (ICT) infrastructure to support electronic governance
At the meeting on June 10 at Treñas’ office were governors Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo, Samuel Gumarin of Guimaras, Rhodora Cadiao of Antique, Esteban Evan Contreras of Capiz, Florencio Miraflores of Aklan, Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental and his economic adviser former Negros Occidental congressman Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, former Guimaras congressman JC Rahman Nava, and former Bacolod City congressman John Orola representing Mayor Evelio Leonardia of Bacolod City./PN
