The Metro Manila Council, composed of the 17 mayors of cities and the lone municipality that make up Metro Manila, offered their recommendations to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
Amid rumors that the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) may be extended up to June 15, due to the continued rise of COVID-19 cases, the mayors instead offered three recommendations for the IATF-EID to decide upon.
The most extreme recommendation is for the extension of the ECQ for two more weeks, continuing from the supposed lifting on May 16 all the way to May 30.
Should the ECQ need to be lifted to help businesses and the workforce resume, the MMC recommends that a general community quarantine (GCQ) be imposed in the entire Metro Manila for as long as needed.
The most lenient scenario that the council recommends is the implementation of a modified GCQ be implemented where local government units (LGUs) decide for themselves whether to impose a lockdown on specific barangays or zones where needed to control the spread of the virus.
The MMC serves as is the governing and policy-making body of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). MMDA General Manager, Jojo Garcia, said that the mayors “unanimously” voted on the recommendations, concluding 5 hours of deliberations.
Garcia added that the IATF-EID will make the final decision on which scenario it will choose, which the MMC will respect.
“There is no perfect solution we have to balance economic and health issues,” Garcia said of the recommendations.
The Department of Health (DOH) has reported that the country now has 10,610 confirmed cases of COVID-19. In NCR alone, the cases have exceeded 6,900, with Quezon City still having the highest number of cases at 1,523. Next are Manila and Paranaque which have 833 and 500 confirmed COVID-19 cases accordingly. Meanwhile, the cities of Makati, Mandaluyong, and Pasig have 477, 445, and 311 respectively.
