Malacañang explained Thursday the decision to place Cebu City under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) was due to some improvements observed by the chiefs of the task force against COVID-19.
President Rodrigo Duterte declared Wednesday to shift Cebu City in a more relaxed community quarantine until the end of July, which according to his spokesperson Harry Roque was based on the recommendation of his deputies.
“As far as the classification of Cebu is concerned, we actually gave premium to the recommendation of [Environment] Secretary [Roy] Cimatu as well as the chief implementers Secretary [Carlito] Galvez and Secretary [Eduardo] Año,” Roque said in a CNN-Philippines interview.
“Cebu could have been even more relaxed, but Secretary Año observed that the deaths have only begun to slow down.”
Roque added that while the case doubling time and critical care capacity have improved, “it was deemed best” to place Cebu under MECQ instead of general community quarantine (GCQ) because “we don’t know if the trend will hold.”
“If you look at the data of Cebu, it’s almost like a rollercoaster, sometimes the death will shoot up, sometimes it will not, meaning, intense community transition is still ongoing in Cebu,” he said.
Also read: Metro Manila remains under GCQ; Cebu city shift to MECQ
“So, the better option is to put it on MECQ for the next two weeks, but we will see after two weeks if they can graduate already to GCQ.”
The President earlier lambasted Cebuanos for being too slow in complying with the national government’s measures to curb the spread of the virus.
Duterte said Cebuanos were stubborn. He added they were too confident and complacent about the COVID-19 situation.
Roque also revealed that the government approved the appeals of the cities of Bacolod, Iloilo, and Davao as well as the province of Bulacan not to place them under GCQ.
“These four [areas] were supposed to have been elevated back to GCQ, but on appeal they were allowed to remain on MGCQ [modified general community quarantine],” he said.
The government also considered local government units’ capacity to implement localized lockdown, economic risk, and LGUs “political will” to achieve the minimum public health standards in making the decision, Roque added.