President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has three options for the new quarantine classification to be implemented over Metro Manila and Cebu by June 16: retain the general community quarantine (GCQ), ease them into modified GCQ (MGCQ), or return them to more strict modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
“Bahala po ang Presidente kasi binabalanse naman po natin iyong ekonomiya at sapat naman po iyong kakayahan nating magbigay ng medical care doon sa mga magkakasakit nang critical, iyong critical care capacity natin (It would be up to the President because we are balancing the economy and enough capacity to provide medical care for critical patients),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview.
MGCQ is the lowest level of community quarantine imposed by the government before the shift to the new normal.
Under MGCQ, public gatherings would be allowed up to 50 percent of the venue’s capacity and more transport options would be available.
Roque, however, said the high number of cases in Metro Manila and Cebu do not seem to deem a transition from the current GCQ to MGCQ.
“It’s a gamble po na hinayaan na natin ang Presidente na magdesisyon (that we’re letting the President decide),” he said.
Still, Roque ensured that the country is ready to enforce the new quarantine rules by June 16.
Duterte is set to announce the new quarantine classifications in the country on June 15.
He was supposed to meet with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in Davao City last Thursday (June 11) but decided to move the meeting to Monday in Manila.
