MANILA – Parañaque Mayor and Metro Manila Council chairperson Edwin Olivares in a live radio-TV interview on Wednesday said the council fully supports the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease to extend the general community quarantine (GCQ) of the National Capital Region (NCR) until July 15.
The recommendation of the IATF, which was concurred in and announced by President Rodrigo Duterte in the evening of June 30 in Malacañang had put the whole NCR under GCQ but placed Cebu City under ECQ because of the spike of Covid-19 infections in the city lately.
“Sa pag-uusap ng mga mayor na miyembro ng MM Council, kami pong lahat na 17 mayor ay sang-ayon sa extension ng GCQ,” (In our talk with the mayors who are members of the Metro Manila Council, all of us 17 mayors agreed with the extension of the GCQ), Olivares said.
He said the mayors have strongly supported the decision even if they were advised by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to appeal in case they wanted to. “Sinabihan kami ng MMDA at DILG na umapila kung kami ay hindi sumang-ayon sa extension ngunit nanindigan kami na mas mabuting ipagpatuloy ang GCQ dahil pa rin sa banta ng hawaan,” (The MMDA and DILG told us to appeal if we do not agree with the extension but we are steadfast that it will be good for us to continue the extension of the GCQ because of the threat of transmission), he said.
Mayor Olivares further said that they are determined to pursue the full implementation of the health protocols against Covid-19 in the whole of Metro Manila so that they may graduate to modified community quarantine (MGCQ) as soon as possible. Earlier in separate interview, Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force Against Covid-19 was quoted as saying that quarantine in the would possibly last until October this year.
