A LUZON-wide lockdown probably won’t be lifted if coronavirus infections continue to soar, the government’s chief enforcer of policies against the pandemic said on Tuesday night.
The Philippines “cannot rush into normalcy,” Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. told a news briefing, noting that cases could enter a “second wave” similar to what happened in Singapore if the lockdown was lifted sooner.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte locked down the entire Luzon island on March 17, suspending work, classes and public transportation to contain the outbreak. The so-called enhanced community quarantine was supposed to end on April 13 but he extended it by two more weeks until April 30.
Mr. Duterte said people should stay home and go out only to buy food and other basic goods.
“We need to continue and heighten the enforcement of the enhanced community quarantine,” Mr. Galvez said in Filipino. “While doing this, it’s better if we also conduct mass testing to locate, test, isolate and cure patients.”
Presidential spokesman Harry L. Roque told Radyo Pilipinas on Wednesday Mr. Duterte was still studying his options, adding that totally lifting the lockdown was out of the question.
The government was considering limiting the lockdown to certain areas as recommended by health experts to Mr. Duterte on Monday, he said.
“The enhanced community quarantine may be enforced in the entire province, city or at the village level,” Mr. Roque said in Filipino. “That is one of the options the President is considering.”
Senator Christopher Lawrence T. Go, Mr. Duterte’s close friend and former aide has said the President would probably announce his decision on Thursday.
Also yesterday, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said a task force made up of Cabinet secretaries against COVID-19 should base its lockdown recommendations on scientific evidence.
“NEDA is recommending to make the decision based on scientific evidence on the risk of transmission of the virus if we modify or lift the enhanced community quarantine,” Acting Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said in a Viber message.
Business groups have urged government to do a calibrated reopening of the economy after April 30 and allow businesses to partially operate again.
“What people want to see is hopefully for the economy to start resuming in stages for them to able to start working,” British Chamber of Commerce Philippines Executive Director Chris Nelson told the ABS-CBN News Channel yesterday.
”Companies want to be able to get their cash flow going because liquidity is important,” he said.
Mr. Chua said at a briefing it would probably be safe for people to go back to work by June or July, assuming the government can test at least 5,000 people daily.
Also yesterday, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III called for a modified lockdown.
“We need to extend the lockdown but with modifications,” he told DZMM radio.
Mr. Sotto said areas with zero or few cases may be allowed to lift the lockdown provided social distancing measures are maintained. Places hit hard by the virus such as Metro Manila should still be locked down, he added.
Local governments may relax public transportation restrictions, Mr. Sotto said. Tricycles may be allowed to operate again but only with one passenger, he added.
Mr. Sotto on Monday attended a meeting where health experts explained lockdown options to Mr. Duterte.
Mr. Sotto said health experts had warned of a spike in infections once the lockdown is lifted.
Meanwhile, University of the Philippines professors said lifting the lockdown should be done gradually and selectively.
This first approach considers resuming mobility within the village, then within cities and municipalities, and then between cities, the academic experts said in a research paper published on April 21.
The second approach seeks to revive economic activity beginning with highly important sectors to sustain the economy in the next 18 months, they added. — Gillian M. Cortez, Charmaine A. Tadalan and Beatrice M. Laforga
https://www.bworldonline.com/luzon-lockdown-may-continue-if-coronavirus-infections-spike/
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Duterte told to limit lockdown to some areas and industries
HEALTH experts on Monday advised President Rodrigo R. Duterte to limit the lockdown to certain areas and industries, while expanding the government’s testing capacity to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
“The more we expand our testing capacity, the more we have confidence in modifying the quarantine,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles said at a briefing on Tuesday.
Mr. Nograles, who also speaks for an inter-agency task force against the virus, said the President needed more time before deciding on the lockdown that started on March 17. It was supposed to end on April 13 but he extended it by two more weeks until April 30.
“It’s not an easy decision,” Mr. Nograles said, adding that Mr. Duterte has until the end of the week to make up his mind.
The President needs more data before deciding on the so-called enhanced community quarantine, his spokesman Harry L. Roque said at a separate news briefing.
He said the experts had told Mr. Duterte to either relax or lift the Luzon-wide lockdown in areas where there are not too many COVID-19 cases.
The task force will keep in mind the guidelines of the World Health Organization, which had warned of a spike in cases worldwide if the lockdowns were lifted too soon.
Also yesterday, Party-list Rep. Virgilio S. Lacson said the lockdown should be relaxed in some areas to allow micro, small and medium enterprises and informal entrepreneurs to resume business.
The relaxed quarantine should be enforced by villages because they know the needs of their communities, the congressman said in a committee report.
Small business should be allowed to operate while the local governments monitor them for compliance with social distancing and disinfection measures to contain the pandemic, he said. — Gillian M. Cortez and Genshen L. Espedido
https://www.bworldonline.com/duterte-told-to-limit-lockdown-to-some-areas-and-industries/
“The more we expand our testing capacity, the more we have confidence in modifying the quarantine,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles said at a briefing on Tuesday.
Mr. Nograles, who also speaks for an inter-agency task force against the virus, said the President needed more time before deciding on the lockdown that started on March 17. It was supposed to end on April 13 but he extended it by two more weeks until April 30.
“It’s not an easy decision,” Mr. Nograles said, adding that Mr. Duterte has until the end of the week to make up his mind.
The President needs more data before deciding on the so-called enhanced community quarantine, his spokesman Harry L. Roque said at a separate news briefing.
He said the experts had told Mr. Duterte to either relax or lift the Luzon-wide lockdown in areas where there are not too many COVID-19 cases.
The task force will keep in mind the guidelines of the World Health Organization, which had warned of a spike in cases worldwide if the lockdowns were lifted too soon.
Also yesterday, Party-list Rep. Virgilio S. Lacson said the lockdown should be relaxed in some areas to allow micro, small and medium enterprises and informal entrepreneurs to resume business.
The relaxed quarantine should be enforced by villages because they know the needs of their communities, the congressman said in a committee report.
Small business should be allowed to operate while the local governments monitor them for compliance with social distancing and disinfection measures to contain the pandemic, he said. — Gillian M. Cortez and Genshen L. Espedido
https://www.bworldonline.com/duterte-told-to-limit-lockdown-to-some-areas-and-industries/
Duterte to decide fate of Luzon lockdown on April 23; modified quarantine possible
President Rodrigo Duterte will decide on the fate of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon on Thursday, April 23, to give Filipinos ample time to prepare for possible changes, his former aide Sen. Christopher "Bong" Go said Tuesday.
Duterte will meet with the country's pandemic task force on the same day, Go said. There is a possibility that the enhanced community quarantine will be modified, he added.
"Ngayon po ay pinag-aaralang mabuti at ngayong Huwebes ay magdedesisyon ang ating Pangulo. Ipupulong niya ulit 'yung ilang miyembro ng ating inter-agency task force," the lawmaker told radio DZMM.
(Now that is being studied and this Thursday the President will decide. He will again meet with some members of the inter-agency task force.)
The decision will come a week before the extended lockdown in Luzon is scheduled to expire.
The President on Monday met with medical experts, including former secretaries of the Department of Health, to get their views on the government's next move in containing the spread of COVID-19.
Malacañang said options that were discussed are relaxing the lockdown in some areas, lifting it in areas that have few COVID-19 cases, and retaining the lockdown in areas with a high number of cases.
So far, Malacañang said COVID-19 cases are high in Metro Manila, parts of Bulacan, and the Southern Tagalog Region (Calabarzon).
Should the government decide to extend the enhanced community quarantine in certain areas, Go said the President is appealing to authorities to strictly enforce COVID-19 protocols.
"It will serve as a challenge sa lahat ng mga probinsya na hindi ibig sabihin na kung modified na kayo ay luwangan na ninyo at normal na," the senator added.
(If the lockdown will be modified in your area, it doesn't mean that you will be complacent and that the situation is already normal.)
Over 50 million people were forced to stay home as Luzon was placed under lockdown on March 17 to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The lockdown, which was supposed to end on April 12, was extended until April 30 as the government said it needed more time to prepare for a "new normal."
“It’s not an easy decision to come up with and we still have time for the President to give his decision,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, also the spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the COVID-19 pandemic said on Tuesday.
"[The President] needs more time basically," Nograles said.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/21/20/duterte-to-decide-on-fate-of-luzon-lockdown-on-april-23-modified-lockdown-possible
Duterte will meet with the country's pandemic task force on the same day, Go said. There is a possibility that the enhanced community quarantine will be modified, he added.
"Ngayon po ay pinag-aaralang mabuti at ngayong Huwebes ay magdedesisyon ang ating Pangulo. Ipupulong niya ulit 'yung ilang miyembro ng ating inter-agency task force," the lawmaker told radio DZMM.
(Now that is being studied and this Thursday the President will decide. He will again meet with some members of the inter-agency task force.)
The decision will come a week before the extended lockdown in Luzon is scheduled to expire.
The President on Monday met with medical experts, including former secretaries of the Department of Health, to get their views on the government's next move in containing the spread of COVID-19.
Malacañang said options that were discussed are relaxing the lockdown in some areas, lifting it in areas that have few COVID-19 cases, and retaining the lockdown in areas with a high number of cases.
So far, Malacañang said COVID-19 cases are high in Metro Manila, parts of Bulacan, and the Southern Tagalog Region (Calabarzon).
Should the government decide to extend the enhanced community quarantine in certain areas, Go said the President is appealing to authorities to strictly enforce COVID-19 protocols.
"It will serve as a challenge sa lahat ng mga probinsya na hindi ibig sabihin na kung modified na kayo ay luwangan na ninyo at normal na," the senator added.
(If the lockdown will be modified in your area, it doesn't mean that you will be complacent and that the situation is already normal.)
Over 50 million people were forced to stay home as Luzon was placed under lockdown on March 17 to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The lockdown, which was supposed to end on April 12, was extended until April 30 as the government said it needed more time to prepare for a "new normal."
“It’s not an easy decision to come up with and we still have time for the President to give his decision,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, also the spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the COVID-19 pandemic said on Tuesday.
"[The President] needs more time basically," Nograles said.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/21/20/duterte-to-decide-on-fate-of-luzon-lockdown-on-april-23-modified-lockdown-possible
What’s next?
It is good to know that President Duterte met with a wider panel of experts last Monday. He needs help as he decides whether to lift the enhanced community quarantine by month’s end or extend it. It is not an easy decision to make.
Some view it as choosing between saving lives or saving the economy. It is more complicated than that. While continuing the lockdown will slow down infection in our population, it will also kill a lot of businesses and livelihoods that could result in a social breakdown.
It is a given that we will continue to be vulnerable to infection by the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 beyond April 30. The virus will remain an ever-present threat in the next two years or so.
The lockdown we endured was not supposed to eradicate the virus, but to slow its infection of our population. We needed to do that so our hospitals will not be deluged with more patients than they can handle. We also needed time to scale up our testing.
But the lockdown is such a drastic and expensive move. We actually closed the economy down. Jobs were lost and those who are paid by the day have nowhere to turn to.
Sure… the government allocated some P200 billion to help the poor survive in the meantime, but the execution of the plan left out many who need help.
Obviously, the lockdown must end or be modified soon. Doctors and other health scientists say it is the only viable option in our toolbox until a vaccine comes around. But a continued lockdown is so distressing to everybody that some other way must be devised.
Government is considering a phase-by-phase lifting of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned against abruptly lifting lockdowns. Crafting just the right strategy is keeping our officials busy.
There are discussions on which industries and sectors would be allowed to resume operations, whether the quarantine should still cover the entire island of Luzon, or only selected areas.
For example, DOTr sought and got approval to restart work on fixing the rails used by MRT3. Other major infra projects should also be allowed to resume.
At the very least, DPWH should be allowed to resume its rehabilitation (or reblocking) of EDSA and C5 to take advantage of low traffic volume. Priority infra projects like the Stage3 SLEX-NLEX connector project of San Miguel should be allowed to resume work.
There was a media report of many construction workers stranded in MetroManila during the lockdown, unable to return to their homes in the provinces. They have problems surviving the no-work situation. Not all construction companies can afford to sustain them in the meantime.
Indeed, given their sordid living conditions in many construction areas, we may have a situation similar to Singapore where the resurgence of the virus happened in crowded barracks where migrant workers live. If work resumes, contractors can be held responsible for their well-being.
Limited public transport should be allowed in a modified community quarantine. This will allow workers from vital industries like food processing to easily get to work. Even as some essential industries like food manufacturers are claiming continued operations, the high utilization capacity cannot be sustained unless workers can easily get to work.
We have to accept many reasonable fixes to the quarantine rules because we will not have a cure or a vaccine soon. Experts talk of a vaccine being at least 18 months away.
In other words, we have to learn to live with the virus by working around it. This makes it important for doctors and other experts (healthcare, logistics, supply chains of essential goods and services, economics) to agree on a balanced program.
There are basics to bear in mind. The first is to know how badly the virus has infected our population and where are the hot spots. This is why mass testing is important.
Government claims they are now doing mass testing. But they are silent on how they are doing it.
Ideally, we should test a random sample of the population. We may not have enough test kits to do that now so maybe they are doing a more targeted testing. That’s not so bad.
Doing targeted rapid testing in Valenzuela that went beyond the guidelines of DOH (to limit the tests to those with symptoms), revealed a number of infected people who showed no symptoms.
It happened in Boston too. They were surprised that of the 397 people tested in a homeless shelter, 146 people tested positive. Not a single one had any symptoms.
We just don’t know how many asymptomatic people there are out there who are contagious. Unless we do, it will be difficult to lift lockdown. Honestly, we don’t know what must be done to contain the virus unless we know how badly it is entrenched and where.
The proper use of rapid tests will enable companies and communities to screen people who can return to work versus those who must remain under quarantine or go for confirmatory testing. This will allow healthy people to resume work with the confidence they are working with similarly healthy people.
Of course, the use of face masks and other safety protocols must be practiced by all to avoid catching and spreading the virus.
Then comes isolating. We have finally built a good number of isolation facilities to confine those suspected until they test negative. This prevents infection of their families and communities. Then do contact tracing.
Then we do testing, isolating and contact tracing all over again to find out how the virus is progressing and where. Unless we know, how can we properly respond?
As Bill Luz of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation puts it, “we need to transition from lockdown to livelihood. We have to balance this delicate equation so we don’t exacerbate this already-difficult situation.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco
https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/04/22/2008802/whats-next
Some view it as choosing between saving lives or saving the economy. It is more complicated than that. While continuing the lockdown will slow down infection in our population, it will also kill a lot of businesses and livelihoods that could result in a social breakdown.
It is a given that we will continue to be vulnerable to infection by the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 beyond April 30. The virus will remain an ever-present threat in the next two years or so.
The lockdown we endured was not supposed to eradicate the virus, but to slow its infection of our population. We needed to do that so our hospitals will not be deluged with more patients than they can handle. We also needed time to scale up our testing.
But the lockdown is such a drastic and expensive move. We actually closed the economy down. Jobs were lost and those who are paid by the day have nowhere to turn to.
Sure… the government allocated some P200 billion to help the poor survive in the meantime, but the execution of the plan left out many who need help.
Obviously, the lockdown must end or be modified soon. Doctors and other health scientists say it is the only viable option in our toolbox until a vaccine comes around. But a continued lockdown is so distressing to everybody that some other way must be devised.
Government is considering a phase-by-phase lifting of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned against abruptly lifting lockdowns. Crafting just the right strategy is keeping our officials busy.
There are discussions on which industries and sectors would be allowed to resume operations, whether the quarantine should still cover the entire island of Luzon, or only selected areas.
For example, DOTr sought and got approval to restart work on fixing the rails used by MRT3. Other major infra projects should also be allowed to resume.
At the very least, DPWH should be allowed to resume its rehabilitation (or reblocking) of EDSA and C5 to take advantage of low traffic volume. Priority infra projects like the Stage3 SLEX-NLEX connector project of San Miguel should be allowed to resume work.
There was a media report of many construction workers stranded in MetroManila during the lockdown, unable to return to their homes in the provinces. They have problems surviving the no-work situation. Not all construction companies can afford to sustain them in the meantime.
Indeed, given their sordid living conditions in many construction areas, we may have a situation similar to Singapore where the resurgence of the virus happened in crowded barracks where migrant workers live. If work resumes, contractors can be held responsible for their well-being.
Limited public transport should be allowed in a modified community quarantine. This will allow workers from vital industries like food processing to easily get to work. Even as some essential industries like food manufacturers are claiming continued operations, the high utilization capacity cannot be sustained unless workers can easily get to work.
We have to accept many reasonable fixes to the quarantine rules because we will not have a cure or a vaccine soon. Experts talk of a vaccine being at least 18 months away.
In other words, we have to learn to live with the virus by working around it. This makes it important for doctors and other experts (healthcare, logistics, supply chains of essential goods and services, economics) to agree on a balanced program.
There are basics to bear in mind. The first is to know how badly the virus has infected our population and where are the hot spots. This is why mass testing is important.
Government claims they are now doing mass testing. But they are silent on how they are doing it.
Ideally, we should test a random sample of the population. We may not have enough test kits to do that now so maybe they are doing a more targeted testing. That’s not so bad.
Doing targeted rapid testing in Valenzuela that went beyond the guidelines of DOH (to limit the tests to those with symptoms), revealed a number of infected people who showed no symptoms.
It happened in Boston too. They were surprised that of the 397 people tested in a homeless shelter, 146 people tested positive. Not a single one had any symptoms.
We just don’t know how many asymptomatic people there are out there who are contagious. Unless we do, it will be difficult to lift lockdown. Honestly, we don’t know what must be done to contain the virus unless we know how badly it is entrenched and where.
The proper use of rapid tests will enable companies and communities to screen people who can return to work versus those who must remain under quarantine or go for confirmatory testing. This will allow healthy people to resume work with the confidence they are working with similarly healthy people.
Of course, the use of face masks and other safety protocols must be practiced by all to avoid catching and spreading the virus.
Then comes isolating. We have finally built a good number of isolation facilities to confine those suspected until they test negative. This prevents infection of their families and communities. Then do contact tracing.
Then we do testing, isolating and contact tracing all over again to find out how the virus is progressing and where. Unless we know, how can we properly respond?
As Bill Luz of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation puts it, “we need to transition from lockdown to livelihood. We have to balance this delicate equation so we don’t exacerbate this already-difficult situation.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco
https://www.philstar.com/business/2020/04/22/2008802/whats-next
Rody makes time for ECQ decision
There is no definite decision yet on whether to lift or extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), or the euphemism for lockdown being implemented all over Luzon. While the country remains vulnerable to the continuing spread of the deadly flu-like contagion called as the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), President Rodrigo Duterte is obviously keeping his options open amid the ongoing debate whether to carry out a calibrated lifting of ECQ and adopt instead a “modified” version of the current Luzon-wide lockdown, or extend it anew.
This comes at the heels of growing fears and concerns on the looming economic disaster that COVID-19 contagion has caused the country since it has been enforced on March 15. A week before the original month-long ECQ was to lapse last April 14, President Duterte extended it for another 15 days ending this April 30.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, official spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Infectious and Emerging Diseases (IATF-EID), admitted yesterday they have not reached consensus of what to recommend to President Duterte. According to him, the President told the IATF to go back to the drawing board and fine-tune the various proposals.
This included proposals from the Duterte economic managers like presidential adviser Jose “Joey” Concepcion who is pushing for a modified ECQ. Concepcion urged to allow the return of workers to presently classified non-essential production activities but under strict physical distancing safeguards to prevent COVID-19 infection.
The President invited leaders of the 18th Congress, namely Senate president Vicente Sotto III and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to sit down in a meeting last Monday at Malacanang with the IATF members chaired by Health Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque III. Obviously, this was to take into consideration the political side of the ECQ and COVID-19 related issues and matter.
But the most important meeting the President had that day was consulting with the former secretaries of the Department of Health (DOH) – all medical doctors themselves who served during the previous administrations. They included ex-DOH Secretaries Janet Garin, Esperanza Cabral, Jaime Galvez-Tan, and Susan Mercado. Also invited were other public and private health and medical practitioners doctors Anthony Leachon, Ana Lisa Ong Lim, Marissa Alenjandria, Katherine Ann Reyes and Alfredo Lagmay. For a change, we are seeing a more consultative approach of the government in trying to get inputs and recommendations from all health and medical authorities and experts.
In a public health crisis like COVID-19 contagion we are having now, it would do well to listen to the men and women in white coats.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque who attended the meeting with the ex-DOH officials noted there seemed to be “almost a consensus” among them to adopt a “modified,” or relaxing certain ECQ regulations without compromising the protection of healthy Filipinos from COVID-19 infection. Roque disclosed President Duterte talked sparingly but listened more to the individual briefings.
In fact, Roque listed down five specific questions propounded by the former Davao City Mayor during the meeting:
“What will happen if he (President) lifts ECQ to certain kinds of people?”
“What good will lifting or relaxing ECQ give to certain sectors of society?”
“How many people will die if ECQ is lifted, modified or retained?”
“Is there a possibility of a second wave of COVID if ECQ is relaxed or lifted?”
“If people are allowed to go out of their homes, is there a danger for the disease to spike anew or is this just really round one of COVID?”
Whether or not to extend the ECQ, both Roque and Nograles reiterated, President Duterte would be guided by “science-based” decision and guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the quarantine measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Nograles even enumerated the following official interim guidelines of the WHO to COVID-affected countries before adjusting public health and social measures:
• COVID-19 transmission is controlled
• Sufficient public health workforce and health system capacities are in place
• Outbreak risks in high-vulnerability settings are minimized
• Preventive measures are established in workplaces
• Manage the risk of exporting and importing cases from communities with high risks of transmission
• Communities are fully engaged.
If done prematurely, the WHO warned yesterday this could trigger a “second wave” or resurgence of cases of COVID-19 infection. In a virtual press conference, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional director for Western Pacific issued this piece of advice: “Lifting of lockdowns needs to be done gradually. I’m sure nobody wants to see another spike by lifting restrictions so soon.”
“If restrictions are relaxed before strong systems are in place to identify, isolate, and care for sick and tracing their contact, this will likely lead to a resurgence of disease,” Kasai warned.
This reminded me of another warning earlier echoed by American doctor, Anthony Fauci who is currently the director of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. Dr. Fauci is better known for initiating research for the treatment and cure of acquired immunity deficiency syndrome-human immuno-virus (AIDS-HIV) when it became a global pandemic in the 1980’s.
Dr. Fauci has served as consultant to six US Presidents in the past. At present, President Donald Trump also sought the expertise of now 74-year old Dr. Fauci to help guide the White House on policies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic contagion that have caused already thousands of deaths in the US. When Mr.Trump announced his plans to ease up by Easter (April 12) the US government COVID-19 restrictions, Dr. Fauci spoke against it during a CNN interview: “You don’t make the timeline. The virus makes the timeline.”
After having an 18-minute telephone talk with Mr.Trump last Sunday, President Duterte has perhaps heard already the advice of Dr. Fauci. This is why President Duterte is taking time before making a final decision on the ECQ.
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2020/04/22/2008886/rody-makes-time-ecq-decision
This comes at the heels of growing fears and concerns on the looming economic disaster that COVID-19 contagion has caused the country since it has been enforced on March 15. A week before the original month-long ECQ was to lapse last April 14, President Duterte extended it for another 15 days ending this April 30.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, official spokesman of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Infectious and Emerging Diseases (IATF-EID), admitted yesterday they have not reached consensus of what to recommend to President Duterte. According to him, the President told the IATF to go back to the drawing board and fine-tune the various proposals.
This included proposals from the Duterte economic managers like presidential adviser Jose “Joey” Concepcion who is pushing for a modified ECQ. Concepcion urged to allow the return of workers to presently classified non-essential production activities but under strict physical distancing safeguards to prevent COVID-19 infection.
The President invited leaders of the 18th Congress, namely Senate president Vicente Sotto III and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to sit down in a meeting last Monday at Malacanang with the IATF members chaired by Health Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque III. Obviously, this was to take into consideration the political side of the ECQ and COVID-19 related issues and matter.
But the most important meeting the President had that day was consulting with the former secretaries of the Department of Health (DOH) – all medical doctors themselves who served during the previous administrations. They included ex-DOH Secretaries Janet Garin, Esperanza Cabral, Jaime Galvez-Tan, and Susan Mercado. Also invited were other public and private health and medical practitioners doctors Anthony Leachon, Ana Lisa Ong Lim, Marissa Alenjandria, Katherine Ann Reyes and Alfredo Lagmay. For a change, we are seeing a more consultative approach of the government in trying to get inputs and recommendations from all health and medical authorities and experts.
In a public health crisis like COVID-19 contagion we are having now, it would do well to listen to the men and women in white coats.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque who attended the meeting with the ex-DOH officials noted there seemed to be “almost a consensus” among them to adopt a “modified,” or relaxing certain ECQ regulations without compromising the protection of healthy Filipinos from COVID-19 infection. Roque disclosed President Duterte talked sparingly but listened more to the individual briefings.
In fact, Roque listed down five specific questions propounded by the former Davao City Mayor during the meeting:
“What will happen if he (President) lifts ECQ to certain kinds of people?”
“What good will lifting or relaxing ECQ give to certain sectors of society?”
“How many people will die if ECQ is lifted, modified or retained?”
“Is there a possibility of a second wave of COVID if ECQ is relaxed or lifted?”
“If people are allowed to go out of their homes, is there a danger for the disease to spike anew or is this just really round one of COVID?”
Whether or not to extend the ECQ, both Roque and Nograles reiterated, President Duterte would be guided by “science-based” decision and guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the quarantine measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Nograles even enumerated the following official interim guidelines of the WHO to COVID-affected countries before adjusting public health and social measures:
• COVID-19 transmission is controlled
• Sufficient public health workforce and health system capacities are in place
• Outbreak risks in high-vulnerability settings are minimized
• Preventive measures are established in workplaces
• Manage the risk of exporting and importing cases from communities with high risks of transmission
• Communities are fully engaged.
If done prematurely, the WHO warned yesterday this could trigger a “second wave” or resurgence of cases of COVID-19 infection. In a virtual press conference, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional director for Western Pacific issued this piece of advice: “Lifting of lockdowns needs to be done gradually. I’m sure nobody wants to see another spike by lifting restrictions so soon.”
“If restrictions are relaxed before strong systems are in place to identify, isolate, and care for sick and tracing their contact, this will likely lead to a resurgence of disease,” Kasai warned.
This reminded me of another warning earlier echoed by American doctor, Anthony Fauci who is currently the director of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. Dr. Fauci is better known for initiating research for the treatment and cure of acquired immunity deficiency syndrome-human immuno-virus (AIDS-HIV) when it became a global pandemic in the 1980’s.
Dr. Fauci has served as consultant to six US Presidents in the past. At present, President Donald Trump also sought the expertise of now 74-year old Dr. Fauci to help guide the White House on policies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic contagion that have caused already thousands of deaths in the US. When Mr.Trump announced his plans to ease up by Easter (April 12) the US government COVID-19 restrictions, Dr. Fauci spoke against it during a CNN interview: “You don’t make the timeline. The virus makes the timeline.”
After having an 18-minute telephone talk with Mr.Trump last Sunday, President Duterte has perhaps heard already the advice of Dr. Fauci. This is why President Duterte is taking time before making a final decision on the ECQ.
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2020/04/22/2008886/rody-makes-time-ecq-decision
Congress resumes session on May 4
Congress will resume session on May 4 even if President Duterte decides to extend or lift the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine beyond April 30, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano announced yesterday.
Cayetano said he has discussed the resumption of session with Senate President Vicente Sotto III during a meeting with the President on Monday night.
The Speaker said he and Sotto agreed to convene sessions of the House of Representatives and Senate despite possible extension of the lockdown in Luzon.
“Under the Constitution, we have to convene on May 4. So definitely we will convene,” Cayetano said on Facebook live.
He said both legislative chambers may opt to hold sessions to comply with quarantine protocols being implemented by the government to curb the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019.
“If the enhanced community quarantine will be lifted, we can hold session. We are playing it by ear and waiting for the President’s announcement on April 30,” Cayetano said.
On March 23, the House of Representatives held an online session and lawmakers voted to pass Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which granted Duterte special powers to combat the pandemic.
Cayetano said lawmakers would act swiftly on additional measures to enable the executive branch to better address the national health crisis, including the proposed economic stimulus program.
“We will fast-track the Philippine Economic Recovery Act. Regardless of the new normal, we commit that Congress will be reliable, relevant and responsive,” he said.
Cayetano said he has discussed the resumption of session with Senate President Vicente Sotto III during a meeting with the President on Monday night.
The Speaker said he and Sotto agreed to convene sessions of the House of Representatives and Senate despite possible extension of the lockdown in Luzon.
“Under the Constitution, we have to convene on May 4. So definitely we will convene,” Cayetano said on Facebook live.
He said both legislative chambers may opt to hold sessions to comply with quarantine protocols being implemented by the government to curb the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019.
“If the enhanced community quarantine will be lifted, we can hold session. We are playing it by ear and waiting for the President’s announcement on April 30,” Cayetano said.
On March 23, the House of Representatives held an online session and lawmakers voted to pass Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which granted Duterte special powers to combat the pandemic.
Cayetano said lawmakers would act swiftly on additional measures to enable the executive branch to better address the national health crisis, including the proposed economic stimulus program.
“We will fast-track the Philippine Economic Recovery Act. Regardless of the new normal, we commit that Congress will be reliable, relevant and responsive,” he said.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Luzon-wide lockdown after April 30 not needed, health experts tell Duterte
But 'enhanced community quarantine' should still be imposed in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, parts of Bulacan, Cebu City, and Davao City, say experts consulted by the President
There was a near-consensus among health policy experts consulted by President Rodrigo Duterte that the current Luzon-wide lockdown be lifted on April 30, with only some parts of the region to remain under quarantine.
"There was almost a consensus that an ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) doesn't have to be implemented over the entire Luzon," Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday, April 21.
"Their recommendation is to continue ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) where there is an outbreak of COVID-19 – NCR, Cebu (City), and Davao (City)," Roque added.
He later added Calabarzon and "portions of Bulacan" as areas that experts believed should remain under lockdown after April 30.
Luzon, home to 57 million Filipinos, has been on lockdown since March 17. The lockdown period is supposed to last until April 30, though the government prefers to use the term "ECQ."
Roque said that Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion also backs a lifting of the Luzon-wide lockdown on April 30. But quarantine measures would be implemented in localities with a high number of COVID-19 cases.
"The private sector's suggestion was to find out which barangays have high infection rates and implement ECQ there," said the Duterte spokesman.
Some experts who attended the meeting had specific dates in mind for a continued quarantine period. Health reform advocate Anthony Leachon, for instance, supports a modified quarantine from May 1 to 15 in Metro Manila.
Why continued quarantine for select areas? The list of areas that health experts believed should remain under some form of quarantine was based on the number of COVID-19 cases there and the likelihood of another outbreak.
Mahar Lagmay, executive director of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute, said the implementation of ECQ, whether modified or as is, would depend on how close a province is to its "outbreak threshold."
Metro Manila, which accounts for more than half of the total coronavirus cases in the country, is at this threshold, said Lagmay.
Cases in the region are now at 3,785. Calabarzon comes next with 818 cases, followed by Central Luzon with 285 cases. Cebu province, including independent cities, has 186 cases. Davao region, meanwhile, has 97 cases.
Duterte's questions. The President's main agenda for the meeting was to find out the consequences of relaxing or totally lifting current lockdown measures in Luzon.
According to Roque, the President asked: "What will happen if he lifts ECQ to certain kinds of people? What good will lifting or relaxing ECQ give to certain sectors of society? How many people will die if ECQ is lifted, modified, or retained?"
Other questions the spokesman quoted were: "Is there a possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 if ECQ is relaxed or lifted? If people are allowed to leave their homes, will the disease spike anew or is this just really round one of COVID-19?"
One silver lining Duterte noted was the higher number of recoveries compared to deaths. As of writing, 613 patients recovered from the virus while 428 have perished.
While the number of recoveries recorded have exceeded the number of deaths in the country in the past week, the number of new cases during that time was often more than 200 per day.
Apart from experts' recommendations and inputs from government agencies, Duterte will also consider the advice of the World Health Organization that any relaxation of quarantine measures must be done in a staggered or gradual manner. – Rappler.com
https://www.rappler.com/nation/258572-health-experts-tell-duterte-luzon-lockdown-after-april-30-2020-not-needed
There was a near-consensus among health policy experts consulted by President Rodrigo Duterte that the current Luzon-wide lockdown be lifted on April 30, with only some parts of the region to remain under quarantine.
"There was almost a consensus that an ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) doesn't have to be implemented over the entire Luzon," Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday, April 21.
"Their recommendation is to continue ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) where there is an outbreak of COVID-19 – NCR, Cebu (City), and Davao (City)," Roque added.
He later added Calabarzon and "portions of Bulacan" as areas that experts believed should remain under lockdown after April 30.
Luzon, home to 57 million Filipinos, has been on lockdown since March 17. The lockdown period is supposed to last until April 30, though the government prefers to use the term "ECQ."
Roque said that Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion also backs a lifting of the Luzon-wide lockdown on April 30. But quarantine measures would be implemented in localities with a high number of COVID-19 cases.
"The private sector's suggestion was to find out which barangays have high infection rates and implement ECQ there," said the Duterte spokesman.
Some experts who attended the meeting had specific dates in mind for a continued quarantine period. Health reform advocate Anthony Leachon, for instance, supports a modified quarantine from May 1 to 15 in Metro Manila.
Why continued quarantine for select areas? The list of areas that health experts believed should remain under some form of quarantine was based on the number of COVID-19 cases there and the likelihood of another outbreak.
Mahar Lagmay, executive director of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute, said the implementation of ECQ, whether modified or as is, would depend on how close a province is to its "outbreak threshold."
Metro Manila, which accounts for more than half of the total coronavirus cases in the country, is at this threshold, said Lagmay.
Cases in the region are now at 3,785. Calabarzon comes next with 818 cases, followed by Central Luzon with 285 cases. Cebu province, including independent cities, has 186 cases. Davao region, meanwhile, has 97 cases.
Duterte's questions. The President's main agenda for the meeting was to find out the consequences of relaxing or totally lifting current lockdown measures in Luzon.
According to Roque, the President asked: "What will happen if he lifts ECQ to certain kinds of people? What good will lifting or relaxing ECQ give to certain sectors of society? How many people will die if ECQ is lifted, modified, or retained?"
Other questions the spokesman quoted were: "Is there a possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 if ECQ is relaxed or lifted? If people are allowed to leave their homes, will the disease spike anew or is this just really round one of COVID-19?"
One silver lining Duterte noted was the higher number of recoveries compared to deaths. As of writing, 613 patients recovered from the virus while 428 have perished.
While the number of recoveries recorded have exceeded the number of deaths in the country in the past week, the number of new cases during that time was often more than 200 per day.
Apart from experts' recommendations and inputs from government agencies, Duterte will also consider the advice of the World Health Organization that any relaxation of quarantine measures must be done in a staggered or gradual manner. – Rappler.com
https://www.rappler.com/nation/258572-health-experts-tell-duterte-luzon-lockdown-after-april-30-2020-not-needed
WHO warns of case spikes if coronavirus lockdowns lifted too soon
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday warned countries against relaxing quarantine restrictions before a strong health system is in place, saying this could trigger a resurgence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.
In the Philippines, the Luzon-wide lockdown is set to end on April 30 but President Rodrigo Duterte is yet to decide on an extension or gradual lifting, an option advised by the WHO to countries considering relaxing restrictions.
“Lifting of lockdowns needs to be done gradually. I’m sure nobody wants to see another spike by lifting restrictions so soon,” Dr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional director for Western Pacific, said in an online press conference.
“If restrictions are relaxed before strong systems are in place to identify, isolate, and care for sick and tracing their contact, this will likely lead to a resurgence of disease.”
The virus has killed at least 170,000 worldwide with global infections at more than 2.4 million cases.
The 428 death toll and 6,459 confirmed cases in the Philippines are among the highest in Southeast Asia, with Singapore—once a model for its COVID-19 response—now battling a second wave of the coronavirus.
Like other countries, the Philippines is struggling to balance public health with the economy, which took a hit during the lockdown.
Low-risk businesses with systems in place to minimize the risk of infection may be considered for reopening should countries decide on a gradual lifting of restrictions, Kasai said.
“We have to be cautious. We really have to assess the situation,” Kasai said, noting “there’s no one-size, fits-all” approach to lifting restrictions.
“This COVID-19 battle is going to be a long one.”
Duterte’s spokesman said he would be “guided by science” on what to do next with the Luzon quarantine.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/21/20/who-warns-of-case-spikes-if-coronavirus-lockdowns-lifted-too-soon
In the Philippines, the Luzon-wide lockdown is set to end on April 30 but President Rodrigo Duterte is yet to decide on an extension or gradual lifting, an option advised by the WHO to countries considering relaxing restrictions.
“Lifting of lockdowns needs to be done gradually. I’m sure nobody wants to see another spike by lifting restrictions so soon,” Dr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional director for Western Pacific, said in an online press conference.
“If restrictions are relaxed before strong systems are in place to identify, isolate, and care for sick and tracing their contact, this will likely lead to a resurgence of disease.”
The virus has killed at least 170,000 worldwide with global infections at more than 2.4 million cases.
The 428 death toll and 6,459 confirmed cases in the Philippines are among the highest in Southeast Asia, with Singapore—once a model for its COVID-19 response—now battling a second wave of the coronavirus.
Like other countries, the Philippines is struggling to balance public health with the economy, which took a hit during the lockdown.
Low-risk businesses with systems in place to minimize the risk of infection may be considered for reopening should countries decide on a gradual lifting of restrictions, Kasai said.
“We have to be cautious. We really have to assess the situation,” Kasai said, noting “there’s no one-size, fits-all” approach to lifting restrictions.
“This COVID-19 battle is going to be a long one.”
Duterte’s spokesman said he would be “guided by science” on what to do next with the Luzon quarantine.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/21/20/who-warns-of-case-spikes-if-coronavirus-lockdowns-lifted-too-soon
Monday, April 20, 2020
Many senators favor modified lockdown in post-April 30 ECQ
To balance the country’s economic and public health interests, several senators believe a modified enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) should be enforced once the Luzon-wide lockdown has been lifted.
“My suggestion is a modified ECQ, that is still compliant with social distancing, para mai-balanse ang isyu ng pampublikong kalusugan sa epekto sa ekonimiya ng bansa,” Senator Panfilo Lacson said in a message to reporters on Monday.
“While we value the primacy of life and public health, it cannot be denied that the country’s economy should not be ignored,” he added.
Lacson said the Department of Health (DOH) should “accelerate massive rapid testing” in order to cover a “considerable number among our population, thus getting a more accurate infection rate.”
To do this, the senator said the DOH could deputize private health practitioners and health workers “under the auspices of a public-private collaboration wherein the business sector can help by subsidizing or spending for the deployment of those health personnel.”
“As it is, DOH is doing a too controlled and centralized and testing which they can’t undertake on a massive scale anyway for reasons known only to them,” Lacson said.
He also proposed that a risk assessment and action plan be conducted to produce a “clearer picture of the impact of an extended lockdown moving forward to a post-April 30 scenario or even after.”
Lacson cited data from the UP School of Economics, which showed that 70 percent of the country’s workforce are in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which accounts for at least 30 percent of the economy.
The senator noted that in Metro Manila alone, at least 250,000 people from that sector are suffering from lost income.
“Government may consider covering the revenue losses of MSME’s in addition to the social amelioration funds extended to daily wage earners,” he said.
Senator Joel Villanueva likewise said that keeping Luzon under quarantine “for a very long period” would not be sustainable.
“Looking at the analysis produced by the UP COVID-19 response team, there are areas in Luzon that are quite far from having a COVID-19 outbreak,” he said.
The government should consider lifting the quarantine in these areas “with the caveat that social distancing, proper wearing of masks and hand washing are strictly practiced,” he added.
“I would also recommend that we balance economic and public health interests,” the senator said.
He said industries which are big economic contributors like construction and manufacturing should be allowed to operate provided that regular randomized testing of workers, social distancing, sanitizing and face mask protocols are implemented.
“We should also ensure transportation of workers. Other social and economic activities like schools and malls, can remain closed,” he added.
60-day modified ECQ
Once the Luzon-wide lockdown is lifted, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian proposed the enforcement of a modified ECQ for another two months.
“Ang nakikita ko kasi dito, lumalaki yung testing capability natin. Ibig sabihin mas maraming ospital ang kakayahang mag-testing,” he told reporters in a virtual press conference.
(What I see here is that the country’s testing capability is improving. This means more hospitals can conduct testing).
“Importante kasi ang testing. Magte-test tayo para pag nahanap natin yung may positive, ika-quarantine natin siya, hindi na kailangang i-quarantine ang buong siyudad o buong Metro Manila,” he added.
(Testing is important. With testing, we can determine who is positive for the virus, we would quarantine the patient and we no longer have to place the entire city, or the whole Metro Manila under quarantine).
But the enforcement of a modified ECQ should still depend on the analysis and recommendations of public health and medical experts, as well as scientists, and the flattening of the country’s COVID-19 curve, Gatchalian said.
Modifying the ECQ should also depend on whether or not the country’s testing capacity nationwide could reach from 15,000 to 20,000 per day.
“If less, then we have (to) carefully study if modified ECQ is still possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said he expects that the ECQ could be extended while areas that do not have any transmission of the disease can be placed under a modified community quarantine.
“Hopefully we [can] contain its transmission by reducing its infection rate. This can only be done by massive testing, isolation and treatment in all LGU with cases,” Recto said.
“Lifting the lockdown in certain areas with low or no transmission will allow people to work, earn and provide for their families. That will help in restarting our economy,” he added.
On the other hand, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said an extension of the ECQ would be possible if mass testing would not be implemented immediately.
“Unless we are to undertake mass testing (as soon as possible), a possible extension of the ECQ is looming, especially in areas where contamination because of [the] thick population is present. But then, it’s just a thought as of now,” he said in a message to reporters.
Like Sotto, Senator Manny Pacquiao said the lifting of the ECQ would depend on the country’s mass testing capacity.
“My personal opinion hanggang hindi nagkakaroon ng mass testing sa mga kababayan natin mas makakabuti na ma-extend pa ito ng konti para sa safety ng ating mga kababayan,” Pacquiao said.
(My personal opinion is unless we have conducted mass testing among Filipinos, it would be better to extend the ECQ even just a little longer for the safety of the public).
Senator Sonny Angara, meanwhile, said preparations should be done before the relaxation or lifting of the quarantine.
“We should do things gradually to prevent any large scales outbreaks; allow certain more essential services and industries to operate. Some (with) public transport, some stores and smaller establishments but (with) strict guidelines,” the senator said.
“This must be done after fully preparing local (governments) down to the (barangay) level for the do’s and don’ts,” he added.
To date, Philippine health officials have confirmed 6,459 COVID-19 cases in the country.
Of the number, 428 have died, while 613 patients have recovered.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier placed the entire Luzon under an enhanced community quarantine as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country continued to increase.
The quarantine became effective on March 17 and was initially set to be lifted on April 13.
The quarantine period, however, has been extended until April 30.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1261855/extend-or-modify-senators-weigh-in-on-enforcement-of-ecq-after-scheduled-lifting-on-april-30
“My suggestion is a modified ECQ, that is still compliant with social distancing, para mai-balanse ang isyu ng pampublikong kalusugan sa epekto sa ekonimiya ng bansa,” Senator Panfilo Lacson said in a message to reporters on Monday.
“While we value the primacy of life and public health, it cannot be denied that the country’s economy should not be ignored,” he added.
Lacson said the Department of Health (DOH) should “accelerate massive rapid testing” in order to cover a “considerable number among our population, thus getting a more accurate infection rate.”
To do this, the senator said the DOH could deputize private health practitioners and health workers “under the auspices of a public-private collaboration wherein the business sector can help by subsidizing or spending for the deployment of those health personnel.”
“As it is, DOH is doing a too controlled and centralized and testing which they can’t undertake on a massive scale anyway for reasons known only to them,” Lacson said.
He also proposed that a risk assessment and action plan be conducted to produce a “clearer picture of the impact of an extended lockdown moving forward to a post-April 30 scenario or even after.”
Lacson cited data from the UP School of Economics, which showed that 70 percent of the country’s workforce are in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which accounts for at least 30 percent of the economy.
The senator noted that in Metro Manila alone, at least 250,000 people from that sector are suffering from lost income.
“Government may consider covering the revenue losses of MSME’s in addition to the social amelioration funds extended to daily wage earners,” he said.
Senator Joel Villanueva likewise said that keeping Luzon under quarantine “for a very long period” would not be sustainable.
“Looking at the analysis produced by the UP COVID-19 response team, there are areas in Luzon that are quite far from having a COVID-19 outbreak,” he said.
The government should consider lifting the quarantine in these areas “with the caveat that social distancing, proper wearing of masks and hand washing are strictly practiced,” he added.
“I would also recommend that we balance economic and public health interests,” the senator said.
He said industries which are big economic contributors like construction and manufacturing should be allowed to operate provided that regular randomized testing of workers, social distancing, sanitizing and face mask protocols are implemented.
“We should also ensure transportation of workers. Other social and economic activities like schools and malls, can remain closed,” he added.
60-day modified ECQ
Once the Luzon-wide lockdown is lifted, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian proposed the enforcement of a modified ECQ for another two months.
“Ang nakikita ko kasi dito, lumalaki yung testing capability natin. Ibig sabihin mas maraming ospital ang kakayahang mag-testing,” he told reporters in a virtual press conference.
(What I see here is that the country’s testing capability is improving. This means more hospitals can conduct testing).
“Importante kasi ang testing. Magte-test tayo para pag nahanap natin yung may positive, ika-quarantine natin siya, hindi na kailangang i-quarantine ang buong siyudad o buong Metro Manila,” he added.
(Testing is important. With testing, we can determine who is positive for the virus, we would quarantine the patient and we no longer have to place the entire city, or the whole Metro Manila under quarantine).
But the enforcement of a modified ECQ should still depend on the analysis and recommendations of public health and medical experts, as well as scientists, and the flattening of the country’s COVID-19 curve, Gatchalian said.
Modifying the ECQ should also depend on whether or not the country’s testing capacity nationwide could reach from 15,000 to 20,000 per day.
“If less, then we have (to) carefully study if modified ECQ is still possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said he expects that the ECQ could be extended while areas that do not have any transmission of the disease can be placed under a modified community quarantine.
“Hopefully we [can] contain its transmission by reducing its infection rate. This can only be done by massive testing, isolation and treatment in all LGU with cases,” Recto said.
“Lifting the lockdown in certain areas with low or no transmission will allow people to work, earn and provide for their families. That will help in restarting our economy,” he added.
On the other hand, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said an extension of the ECQ would be possible if mass testing would not be implemented immediately.
“Unless we are to undertake mass testing (as soon as possible), a possible extension of the ECQ is looming, especially in areas where contamination because of [the] thick population is present. But then, it’s just a thought as of now,” he said in a message to reporters.
Like Sotto, Senator Manny Pacquiao said the lifting of the ECQ would depend on the country’s mass testing capacity.
“My personal opinion hanggang hindi nagkakaroon ng mass testing sa mga kababayan natin mas makakabuti na ma-extend pa ito ng konti para sa safety ng ating mga kababayan,” Pacquiao said.
(My personal opinion is unless we have conducted mass testing among Filipinos, it would be better to extend the ECQ even just a little longer for the safety of the public).
Senator Sonny Angara, meanwhile, said preparations should be done before the relaxation or lifting of the quarantine.
“We should do things gradually to prevent any large scales outbreaks; allow certain more essential services and industries to operate. Some (with) public transport, some stores and smaller establishments but (with) strict guidelines,” the senator said.
“This must be done after fully preparing local (governments) down to the (barangay) level for the do’s and don’ts,” he added.
To date, Philippine health officials have confirmed 6,459 COVID-19 cases in the country.
Of the number, 428 have died, while 613 patients have recovered.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier placed the entire Luzon under an enhanced community quarantine as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country continued to increase.
The quarantine became effective on March 17 and was initially set to be lifted on April 13.
The quarantine period, however, has been extended until April 30.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1261855/extend-or-modify-senators-weigh-in-on-enforcement-of-ecq-after-scheduled-lifting-on-april-30
Duterte may finalize decision on Luzon ECQ this week – Palace
President Rodrigo Duterte may decide this week on whether to lift, extend or modify the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) being enforced over Luzon, Malacañang said on Monday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said there is no definite answer yet on the fate of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine which will lapse on April 30.
However, he said that the chief executive will likely decide on the matter soon to give ample time for authorities and the public to prepare.
“Kinakailangang magdesisyon ang presidente ngayong linggong ito dahil anuman ang maging desisyon niya, kinakailangang paghandaan ang implementasyon,” Roque said in a virtual press briefing.
The Palace official said Duterte is meeting with medical experts to get their recommendations and basis amid the COVID-19 crisis.
He will also discuss the matter with the members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).
Duterte earlier threatened to impose a martial law-like quarantine measure if the public continues to disobey safety and health protocols against the spread of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The IATF also reiterated it is still discussing possible scenarios and its game plan for post-ECQ, and denied rumors the quarantine will be extended until May.
The Palace likewise dismissed as fake news a viral voice clip which warned about a possible declaration of martial law-type lockdown this week.
The quarantine over Luzon has been in place since March 15 and it is due to end on April 30.
Under this measure, public transport operations are halted, classes and work in some offices are suspended, and only essential workers are allowed to go out of their homes while the rest are ordered to stay inside their residences. – RRD (with details from Correspondent Rosalie Coz)
https://untvweb.com/news/duterte-may-finalize-decision-on-luzon-ecq-this-week-palace/
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said there is no definite answer yet on the fate of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine which will lapse on April 30.
However, he said that the chief executive will likely decide on the matter soon to give ample time for authorities and the public to prepare.
“Kinakailangang magdesisyon ang presidente ngayong linggong ito dahil anuman ang maging desisyon niya, kinakailangang paghandaan ang implementasyon,” Roque said in a virtual press briefing.
The Palace official said Duterte is meeting with medical experts to get their recommendations and basis amid the COVID-19 crisis.
He will also discuss the matter with the members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).
Duterte earlier threatened to impose a martial law-like quarantine measure if the public continues to disobey safety and health protocols against the spread of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The IATF also reiterated it is still discussing possible scenarios and its game plan for post-ECQ, and denied rumors the quarantine will be extended until May.
The Palace likewise dismissed as fake news a viral voice clip which warned about a possible declaration of martial law-type lockdown this week.
The quarantine over Luzon has been in place since March 15 and it is due to end on April 30.
Under this measure, public transport operations are halted, classes and work in some offices are suspended, and only essential workers are allowed to go out of their homes while the rest are ordered to stay inside their residences. – RRD (with details from Correspondent Rosalie Coz)
https://untvweb.com/news/duterte-may-finalize-decision-on-luzon-ecq-this-week-palace/
Modification or extension? Duterte decision on lockdown out this week
President Rodrigo Duterte will decide this week what action the government will take regarding the extended enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) of the entire Luzon, which is set to lapse on April 30.
According to Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque, the President is now entertaining two options: to extend the lockdown or modify it to be implemented in select local government units heavily affected by the novel coronavirus.
Roque said Duterte will base his decision on his meeting with health experts on Monday and the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force handling the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.
“Dahil sampung araw nalang at matatapos na ang ECQ, kinakailangan magdecide na ang Presidente ngayong linggong ito dahil anuman ang desisyon niya ay kinakailangan paghanda ang implementasyon,” Roque said in an online press briefing Monday.
The Palace official said the government is now looking to “balance” its obligation to protect its people and the Filipinos’ right for livelihood.
“Because the decision is one of the most difficult decisions the President has to make, he will be guided by science. Siyensya po ang gagamitin ng Presidente sa desisyong ito,” Roque noted.
Duterte placed the entire Luzon under a month-long enhanced community quarantine to halt the spread of COVID-19, which has so far infected 6,259 people nationwide, 409 of whom died while 572 recovered.
The Luzon lockdown was supposed to lapse on April 13 but Duterte approved the proposal to extend it until April 30.
The order restricts the movement of people who are only allowed to leave their homes for the provision of food and other basic necessities and in cases of emergency.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1261624/fwd-modification-or-extension-of-luzon-lockdown-duterte-decision-out-this-week
According to Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque, the President is now entertaining two options: to extend the lockdown or modify it to be implemented in select local government units heavily affected by the novel coronavirus.
Roque said Duterte will base his decision on his meeting with health experts on Monday and the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force handling the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.
“Dahil sampung araw nalang at matatapos na ang ECQ, kinakailangan magdecide na ang Presidente ngayong linggong ito dahil anuman ang desisyon niya ay kinakailangan paghanda ang implementasyon,” Roque said in an online press briefing Monday.
The Palace official said the government is now looking to “balance” its obligation to protect its people and the Filipinos’ right for livelihood.
“Because the decision is one of the most difficult decisions the President has to make, he will be guided by science. Siyensya po ang gagamitin ng Presidente sa desisyong ito,” Roque noted.
Duterte placed the entire Luzon under a month-long enhanced community quarantine to halt the spread of COVID-19, which has so far infected 6,259 people nationwide, 409 of whom died while 572 recovered.
The Luzon lockdown was supposed to lapse on April 13 but Duterte approved the proposal to extend it until April 30.
The order restricts the movement of people who are only allowed to leave their homes for the provision of food and other basic necessities and in cases of emergency.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1261624/fwd-modification-or-extension-of-luzon-lockdown-duterte-decision-out-this-week
Government eyes phased, targeted lifting of COVID quarantine
The government is eyeing a phase-by-phase lifting of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine as it considers heeding the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO) against abruptly lifting lockdowns around the world to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases will meet today to discuss possible scenarios and measures to be enforced once quarantine ends.
While the task force has yet to decide whether to extend or lift the quarantine, its spokesman, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, said the Philippines has to consider the WHO’s reminder about the risks of lifting lockdowns prematurely.
“We have to follow, if ever, the advice of the WHO, that we cannot be abrupt on this. So one of the options being eyed is phase-by-phase (lifting). Maybe it should be targeted. We have to choose (which establishments) should reopen and what workforce would be allowed to work, what transport systems would be allowed,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles told radio station dzBB yesterday.
“We have these kinds of guidelines that should be imposed and once they are approved by President Duterte, we would have new dos and don’ts,” said Nograles, who heads the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
The quarantine started on March 17 and was supposed to end on April 12, but Duterte decided to extend it to give the government more time to conduct tests and strengthen the country’s health system.
The government warned yesterday that strict measures would be reimposed if there is a resurgence in COVID cases after the quarantine is lifted.
Nograles assured the public that the government would act swiftly in the event of a resurgence of coronavirus cases.
“There is a caveat... If the numbers increase, if there is a new spike or surge or resurgence or second wave or relapse, whatever terminology will be used, the bottom line is if we see another increase in the number of cases, we have to be prepared. The government has to decide quickly,” he said.
“We need to be strict again, implement again the enhanced community quarantine, either as a whole or in particular localities. Our action should be swift,” he added.
The IATF spokesman said the task force is expected to discuss today which industries and sectors would be allowed to resume operations, whether the quarantine should still cover the entire island of Luzon or only selected areas.
The government, according to Nograles, will consider five parameters in deciding whether to lift or extend the quarantine: the epidemiological curve or the acceleration or deceleration of COVID-19 cases; health aspects, including capacity to test, isolate and treat patients, and facilities; social aspect; economic aspect and security aspect.
“We do not know yet what will happen (today). Hopefully, we will arrive at a consensus. Whatever recommendations to be presented, ultimately, it will be President Duterte who will decide,” he said, adding that regardless of the post-quarantine scenario to be implemented, the wearing of face masks, constant disinfection and social distancing would still be required.
The government is also expected to ramp up the testing of patients under investigation and patients under monitoring tomorrow because of its improved testing capacity, according to the task force spokesman.
Expanded meeting
Sen. Bong Go yesterday confirmed that Duterte will decide this week whether or not to extend or totally or partially lift the quarantine after April 30 amid the continued rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.
Go, chairman of the Senate committee on health, said Duterte is scheduled today to preside over an expanded meeting with IATF members, including health secretaries of previous administrations and other experts.
The senator said the IATF meetings of late were being conducted through Zoom as many officials of the task force have been found positive of the disease. It was not yet clear how the meeting today with Duterte would be done.
“Our situation is really difficult; Filipinos are now pinned down, but I think we must be really strict in the next 11 days until April 30, and I think the President will decide this week whether or not to extend it or loosen it,” Go told dzBB in Filipino. “The coming days will be crucial… The people’s lives and livelihood are at stake.”
If he were to be asked, the senator said he would lean toward “saving lives” even as he admitted that the urgent need to jumpstart the economy is just as compelling.
Go, a member of the joint congressional oversight panel on the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, said he continues to monitor the situation of many Filipinos affected by the quarantine in Luzon as well as in many parts of the country.
Sen. Sonny Angara said he is in favor of “relaxing” the quarantine for specific areas or barangays.
“I suggest a barangay-based quarantine while other establishments, like businesses and industries, transportation, could be opened,” Angara told dzRH.
He said essential retail establishments should also be allowed to open.
The senator, however, said mass testing must be ramped up so that the government can determine which areas are safe from COVID-19.
He cited the case of some parts of northern Japan, where quarantine was lifted and saw a second wave of infections.
Dr. Anthony Leachon, special adviser to the IATF, said the National Task Force on COVID-19 led by Secretary Carlito Galvez, is looking at three scenarios after April 30: a modified community quarantine relaxing measures for “essential workers;” “rolling” lifting of community quarantine by local government units (LGUs) or localized lifting, depending on certain health parameters; and status quo, meaning, extending the quarantine until May 15.
“I believe the second option gives better specificity and is nuanced per LGU. For each LGU, there are massive implications for coping and building capacity to execute. I think a combination of the first and second, if properly timed and well-executed, may address both flattening the curve and getting the economy moving,” Leachon said.
‘Is health system ready?’
For Vice President Leni Robredo, the preparedness of the country’s healthcare system to deal with COVID-19 cases must be among the things that the government must consider in lifting or easing the Luzon-wide quarantine.
“The question is: are we ready to deal (with the virus)? Are hospitals ready, is the government ready, is the healthcare system ready?” Robredo said in her weekly program over dzXL yesterday.
She added that COVID-19 cases could rise again when the lockdown is lifted, according to data.
The Vice President said the government should have used the quarantine, which started on March 17, to prepare the country’s healthcare system for the pandemic.
The WHO had earlier set six conditions for ending a lockdown against COVID-19: the disease transmission is under control; health systems are able to “detect, test, isolate and treat every case and trace every contact;” hot spot risks are minimized in vulnerable places such as nursing homes, schools, workplaces; other essential places have established preventive measures; the risk of importing new cases “can be managed;” and communities are fully educated, engaged and empowered to live under a new normal.
Robredo, however, said the government must also weigh in the impact of the prolonged lockdown on small businesses.
“The business sector is suffering, even the big companies are suffering too,” she said.
Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion has proposed a selective quarantine at the barangay level.
Community quarantine, he said, should be extended for barangays with high rates of infection to enable the police and the military to focus on areas most affected.
No total lockdown nationwide
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has dispelled claims that the national government will impose a total lockdown over the entire country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Año said that while expanding the quarantine to areas outside Luzon is “an option,” there would be no total lockdown nationwide.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, he said it is too early to say what move will the government be taking as it needs more data.
A recommendation to the President is expected to be submitted on April 25 or by the end of the week.
Last week, Duterte threatened that he would impose martial law-like discipline following thousands of quarantine violators tallied by the police.
Año said authorities would not impose martial rule, but they would be deploying additional uniformed personnel to ensure strict implementation of the quarantine. – With Paolo Romero, Edit Regalado, Helen Flores, Romina Cabrera, Evelyn Macairan
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/04/20/2008462/government-eyes-phased-targeted-lifting-covid-quarantine
Members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases will meet today to discuss possible scenarios and measures to be enforced once quarantine ends.
While the task force has yet to decide whether to extend or lift the quarantine, its spokesman, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, said the Philippines has to consider the WHO’s reminder about the risks of lifting lockdowns prematurely.
“We have to follow, if ever, the advice of the WHO, that we cannot be abrupt on this. So one of the options being eyed is phase-by-phase (lifting). Maybe it should be targeted. We have to choose (which establishments) should reopen and what workforce would be allowed to work, what transport systems would be allowed,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles told radio station dzBB yesterday.
“We have these kinds of guidelines that should be imposed and once they are approved by President Duterte, we would have new dos and don’ts,” said Nograles, who heads the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
The quarantine started on March 17 and was supposed to end on April 12, but Duterte decided to extend it to give the government more time to conduct tests and strengthen the country’s health system.
The government warned yesterday that strict measures would be reimposed if there is a resurgence in COVID cases after the quarantine is lifted.
Nograles assured the public that the government would act swiftly in the event of a resurgence of coronavirus cases.
“There is a caveat... If the numbers increase, if there is a new spike or surge or resurgence or second wave or relapse, whatever terminology will be used, the bottom line is if we see another increase in the number of cases, we have to be prepared. The government has to decide quickly,” he said.
“We need to be strict again, implement again the enhanced community quarantine, either as a whole or in particular localities. Our action should be swift,” he added.
The IATF spokesman said the task force is expected to discuss today which industries and sectors would be allowed to resume operations, whether the quarantine should still cover the entire island of Luzon or only selected areas.
The government, according to Nograles, will consider five parameters in deciding whether to lift or extend the quarantine: the epidemiological curve or the acceleration or deceleration of COVID-19 cases; health aspects, including capacity to test, isolate and treat patients, and facilities; social aspect; economic aspect and security aspect.
“We do not know yet what will happen (today). Hopefully, we will arrive at a consensus. Whatever recommendations to be presented, ultimately, it will be President Duterte who will decide,” he said, adding that regardless of the post-quarantine scenario to be implemented, the wearing of face masks, constant disinfection and social distancing would still be required.
The government is also expected to ramp up the testing of patients under investigation and patients under monitoring tomorrow because of its improved testing capacity, according to the task force spokesman.
Expanded meeting
Sen. Bong Go yesterday confirmed that Duterte will decide this week whether or not to extend or totally or partially lift the quarantine after April 30 amid the continued rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.
Go, chairman of the Senate committee on health, said Duterte is scheduled today to preside over an expanded meeting with IATF members, including health secretaries of previous administrations and other experts.
The senator said the IATF meetings of late were being conducted through Zoom as many officials of the task force have been found positive of the disease. It was not yet clear how the meeting today with Duterte would be done.
“Our situation is really difficult; Filipinos are now pinned down, but I think we must be really strict in the next 11 days until April 30, and I think the President will decide this week whether or not to extend it or loosen it,” Go told dzBB in Filipino. “The coming days will be crucial… The people’s lives and livelihood are at stake.”
If he were to be asked, the senator said he would lean toward “saving lives” even as he admitted that the urgent need to jumpstart the economy is just as compelling.
Go, a member of the joint congressional oversight panel on the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, said he continues to monitor the situation of many Filipinos affected by the quarantine in Luzon as well as in many parts of the country.
Sen. Sonny Angara said he is in favor of “relaxing” the quarantine for specific areas or barangays.
“I suggest a barangay-based quarantine while other establishments, like businesses and industries, transportation, could be opened,” Angara told dzRH.
He said essential retail establishments should also be allowed to open.
The senator, however, said mass testing must be ramped up so that the government can determine which areas are safe from COVID-19.
He cited the case of some parts of northern Japan, where quarantine was lifted and saw a second wave of infections.
Dr. Anthony Leachon, special adviser to the IATF, said the National Task Force on COVID-19 led by Secretary Carlito Galvez, is looking at three scenarios after April 30: a modified community quarantine relaxing measures for “essential workers;” “rolling” lifting of community quarantine by local government units (LGUs) or localized lifting, depending on certain health parameters; and status quo, meaning, extending the quarantine until May 15.
“I believe the second option gives better specificity and is nuanced per LGU. For each LGU, there are massive implications for coping and building capacity to execute. I think a combination of the first and second, if properly timed and well-executed, may address both flattening the curve and getting the economy moving,” Leachon said.
‘Is health system ready?’
For Vice President Leni Robredo, the preparedness of the country’s healthcare system to deal with COVID-19 cases must be among the things that the government must consider in lifting or easing the Luzon-wide quarantine.
“The question is: are we ready to deal (with the virus)? Are hospitals ready, is the government ready, is the healthcare system ready?” Robredo said in her weekly program over dzXL yesterday.
She added that COVID-19 cases could rise again when the lockdown is lifted, according to data.
The Vice President said the government should have used the quarantine, which started on March 17, to prepare the country’s healthcare system for the pandemic.
The WHO had earlier set six conditions for ending a lockdown against COVID-19: the disease transmission is under control; health systems are able to “detect, test, isolate and treat every case and trace every contact;” hot spot risks are minimized in vulnerable places such as nursing homes, schools, workplaces; other essential places have established preventive measures; the risk of importing new cases “can be managed;” and communities are fully educated, engaged and empowered to live under a new normal.
Robredo, however, said the government must also weigh in the impact of the prolonged lockdown on small businesses.
“The business sector is suffering, even the big companies are suffering too,” she said.
Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion has proposed a selective quarantine at the barangay level.
Community quarantine, he said, should be extended for barangays with high rates of infection to enable the police and the military to focus on areas most affected.
No total lockdown nationwide
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has dispelled claims that the national government will impose a total lockdown over the entire country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Año said that while expanding the quarantine to areas outside Luzon is “an option,” there would be no total lockdown nationwide.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, he said it is too early to say what move will the government be taking as it needs more data.
A recommendation to the President is expected to be submitted on April 25 or by the end of the week.
Last week, Duterte threatened that he would impose martial law-like discipline following thousands of quarantine violators tallied by the police.
Año said authorities would not impose martial rule, but they would be deploying additional uniformed personnel to ensure strict implementation of the quarantine. – With Paolo Romero, Edit Regalado, Helen Flores, Romina Cabrera, Evelyn Macairan
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/04/20/2008462/government-eyes-phased-targeted-lifting-covid-quarantine
Nationwide round-up
Barangay-level lockdown to continue after ECQ lifting
SELECTIVE lockdowns at the barangay level should remain in place after the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) measures against the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are lifted, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III said. “(For) areas that still have high level of infection, I think they will continue (the lockdown), and I would agree with that because we cannot let our guards down,” Mr. Concepcion said in a television interview on Sunday. Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the COVID-19 National Action Plan, earlier said selective quarantine is possible as a means to isolate and treat COVID-19 patients. “We start from the barangay… if it’s very hard for the government to monitor, then you can look at the municipality and elevate it to the city and so forth to the province. Those are our recommendations,” Mr. Concepcion said. He also announced that the private sector recently launched Project ARK (antibody rapid test kits) to test all employees for the virus. The project will later be expanded to sample sizes in barangays, he said, adding that the data collected by the private sector will be shared with the Health department. — Jenina P. Ibañez
Lawmaker seeks detailed report on quarantine facilities
A LAWMAKER called on the government to provide detailed reporting and accountability on temporary quarantine facilities (TQFs) for coronavirus disease 2019 patients around the country. “There is an IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease) directive enjoining LGUs (local government units) to set up their temporary quarantine facilities. Where are the daily and weekly reports on these TQFs?” Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo A. Garbin, Jr. said in a statement Sunday. He recommended that the government post status reports on TQFs and identify the accountable individuals in charge of the day-to-day operations. — Genshen L. Espedido
Gov’t yet to decide on ceasefire extension
THE GOVERNMENT has yet to discuss whether to extend the unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels, Palace Spokesperson Harry L. Roque said in a statement on Sunday. “(T)his matter is something the National Task Force on Ending Local Armed Conflict can discuss with the President,” he said. The ceasefire was first ordered by President Rodrigo R. Duterte at the beginning of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last month as the country deals with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. The National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Communist Party of the Philippines reciprocated after the United Nations called for a global armistice amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The communist movement has announced a ceasefire extension to April 30, which coincides with the lifting of the ECQ. “The call for peace is everyone’s desire and it has become more urgent in the present state of calamity and public health emergency,” Mr. Roque said. — Gillian M. Cortez
Palace wants more proof of alleged human rights violations by LGUs
THE Palace on Sunday said they will need more proof before taking action on alleged human rights violations by local government units (LGUs) in the implementation of community quarantine guidelines. Palace Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, in a statement, said, “As we are not fully aware of the details of such violations, we will appreciate receipt of detailed information of the same for proper action by the appropriate agencies.” He added, “Under the current circumstances we are in, the LGUs enforce the law as reasonably strict as possible for the full protection of our people.” The national government has imposed a lockdown in Luzon and quarantine guidelines for LGUs nationwide. There have been allegations made on social media of punishments for violators such as carrying a gallon of water for hours, push-ups, and other physically demanding activities. Mr. Roque told the public to simply follow the quarantine rules, saying, “This entails everyone’s cooperation. We need to fight this pandemic together.” — Gillian M. Cortez
https://www.bworldonline.com/nationwide-round-up-228/
SELECTIVE lockdowns at the barangay level should remain in place after the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) measures against the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are lifted, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III said. “(For) areas that still have high level of infection, I think they will continue (the lockdown), and I would agree with that because we cannot let our guards down,” Mr. Concepcion said in a television interview on Sunday. Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the COVID-19 National Action Plan, earlier said selective quarantine is possible as a means to isolate and treat COVID-19 patients. “We start from the barangay… if it’s very hard for the government to monitor, then you can look at the municipality and elevate it to the city and so forth to the province. Those are our recommendations,” Mr. Concepcion said. He also announced that the private sector recently launched Project ARK (antibody rapid test kits) to test all employees for the virus. The project will later be expanded to sample sizes in barangays, he said, adding that the data collected by the private sector will be shared with the Health department. — Jenina P. Ibañez
Lawmaker seeks detailed report on quarantine facilities
A LAWMAKER called on the government to provide detailed reporting and accountability on temporary quarantine facilities (TQFs) for coronavirus disease 2019 patients around the country. “There is an IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease) directive enjoining LGUs (local government units) to set up their temporary quarantine facilities. Where are the daily and weekly reports on these TQFs?” Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo A. Garbin, Jr. said in a statement Sunday. He recommended that the government post status reports on TQFs and identify the accountable individuals in charge of the day-to-day operations. — Genshen L. Espedido
Gov’t yet to decide on ceasefire extension
THE GOVERNMENT has yet to discuss whether to extend the unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels, Palace Spokesperson Harry L. Roque said in a statement on Sunday. “(T)his matter is something the National Task Force on Ending Local Armed Conflict can discuss with the President,” he said. The ceasefire was first ordered by President Rodrigo R. Duterte at the beginning of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last month as the country deals with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. The National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Communist Party of the Philippines reciprocated after the United Nations called for a global armistice amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The communist movement has announced a ceasefire extension to April 30, which coincides with the lifting of the ECQ. “The call for peace is everyone’s desire and it has become more urgent in the present state of calamity and public health emergency,” Mr. Roque said. — Gillian M. Cortez
Palace wants more proof of alleged human rights violations by LGUs
THE Palace on Sunday said they will need more proof before taking action on alleged human rights violations by local government units (LGUs) in the implementation of community quarantine guidelines. Palace Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, in a statement, said, “As we are not fully aware of the details of such violations, we will appreciate receipt of detailed information of the same for proper action by the appropriate agencies.” He added, “Under the current circumstances we are in, the LGUs enforce the law as reasonably strict as possible for the full protection of our people.” The national government has imposed a lockdown in Luzon and quarantine guidelines for LGUs nationwide. There have been allegations made on social media of punishments for violators such as carrying a gallon of water for hours, push-ups, and other physically demanding activities. Mr. Roque told the public to simply follow the quarantine rules, saying, “This entails everyone’s cooperation. We need to fight this pandemic together.” — Gillian M. Cortez
https://www.bworldonline.com/nationwide-round-up-228/
President weighs lockdown; lawmaker seeks 2 more weeks
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte is expected to decide whether to lift or extend a Luzon-wide lockdown that has brought the Philippine economy to a standstill amid the coronavirus disease pandemic, and will probably continue to mandate social distancing protocols in the absence of any cure.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will present to an inter-agency task force made up of Cabinet officials its recommendations once the lockdown that started on March 17 expires on April 30, NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said in a mobile-phone message on Sunday.
“The matter will still be presented before the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), the parameters to be used and the decision,” she said. “We just know that social distancing will still be observed.”
Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda yesterday said the Luzon lockdown should be extended by two more weeks.
“The risk of a resurgence of infection remains significant and the total economic cost of a resurgence in infection is triple the cost,” he told CNN Philippines.
The congressman said 130,000 people will have been tested by the end of April, which is “too small for a country of 110 million.”
NEDA heads the IATF technical working group that will recommend measures and policies in the battle against the COVID-19 virus.
Ms. Edillon said their recommendations would be used in Mr. Duterte’s decision on the lockdown.
Mr. Duterte can either lift, extend or modify lockdown protocols meant to contain the pandemic that has sickened 6,259 and killed 409 people in the Philippines.
The President will meet with health experts today including, former Health secretaries, to discuss options, Senator Christopher Lawrence T. Go, his former aide, told DZBB radio yesterday.
Mr. Duterte locked down the entire Luzon island on March 17, suspending work, classes and public transportation to contain the pandemic. He later extended it by two more weeks until April 30.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra, a task force member, said it was not practical to wait for zero human transmission of the virus before lifting the lockdown.
“It may not be advisable to wait until the entire country reaches a zero level of human transmission,” he told reporters in a group message. “By then, we may have hit the tipping point where it would be extremely difficult to recover from the economic and social devastation.”
Senator Christopher T. Go in a radio interview said the president is meeting with health experts to consult on the extension or modification of the ECQ after April 30.
Experts from the University of the Philippines reported despite the ECQ appearing successful, its expansion “may not be sustainable over the long run,” and extending restrictions on movement of goods and services might “unnecessarily paralyze the economy.”
Resigned Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia last week said extending the lockdown beyond April 30 would be difficult, and should be gradually lifted instead.
In an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel yesterday, he reiterated his proposal for selective quarantine after April 30, adding that this should be accompanied by mass testing.
Joey Concepcion, Mr. Duterte’s adviser for entrepreneurship, wants selective lockdown or village-based strategies to avoid penalizing areas that remain COVID-19-free. — Beatrice M. Laforga, Genshen L. Espedido, Vann Marlo M. Villegas and Charmaine A. Tadalan
https://www.bworldonline.com/president-weighs-lockdown-lawmaker-seeks-2-more-weeks/
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will present to an inter-agency task force made up of Cabinet officials its recommendations once the lockdown that started on March 17 expires on April 30, NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said in a mobile-phone message on Sunday.
“The matter will still be presented before the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), the parameters to be used and the decision,” she said. “We just know that social distancing will still be observed.”
Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda yesterday said the Luzon lockdown should be extended by two more weeks.
“The risk of a resurgence of infection remains significant and the total economic cost of a resurgence in infection is triple the cost,” he told CNN Philippines.
The congressman said 130,000 people will have been tested by the end of April, which is “too small for a country of 110 million.”
NEDA heads the IATF technical working group that will recommend measures and policies in the battle against the COVID-19 virus.
Ms. Edillon said their recommendations would be used in Mr. Duterte’s decision on the lockdown.
Mr. Duterte can either lift, extend or modify lockdown protocols meant to contain the pandemic that has sickened 6,259 and killed 409 people in the Philippines.
The President will meet with health experts today including, former Health secretaries, to discuss options, Senator Christopher Lawrence T. Go, his former aide, told DZBB radio yesterday.
Mr. Duterte locked down the entire Luzon island on March 17, suspending work, classes and public transportation to contain the pandemic. He later extended it by two more weeks until April 30.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra, a task force member, said it was not practical to wait for zero human transmission of the virus before lifting the lockdown.
“It may not be advisable to wait until the entire country reaches a zero level of human transmission,” he told reporters in a group message. “By then, we may have hit the tipping point where it would be extremely difficult to recover from the economic and social devastation.”
Senator Christopher T. Go in a radio interview said the president is meeting with health experts to consult on the extension or modification of the ECQ after April 30.
Experts from the University of the Philippines reported despite the ECQ appearing successful, its expansion “may not be sustainable over the long run,” and extending restrictions on movement of goods and services might “unnecessarily paralyze the economy.”
Resigned Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia last week said extending the lockdown beyond April 30 would be difficult, and should be gradually lifted instead.
In an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel yesterday, he reiterated his proposal for selective quarantine after April 30, adding that this should be accompanied by mass testing.
Joey Concepcion, Mr. Duterte’s adviser for entrepreneurship, wants selective lockdown or village-based strategies to avoid penalizing areas that remain COVID-19-free. — Beatrice M. Laforga, Genshen L. Espedido, Vann Marlo M. Villegas and Charmaine A. Tadalan
https://www.bworldonline.com/president-weighs-lockdown-lawmaker-seeks-2-more-weeks/
Sunday, April 19, 2020
IATF: Luzon lockdown restrictions cannot be lifted all at once
The enhanced community quarantine cannot be lifted abruptly, the government said Sunday, as it warned that strict measures would be reimplemented if there is a resurgence in coronavirus cases after the lockdown period.
Members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases met Sunday to discuss possible scenarios and measures to be enforced once the Luzon-wide quarantine ends.
While the task force has yet to decide whether to extend or lift the quarantine, its spokesman, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, said the Philippines has to consider the reminder of the World Health Organization about the risks of lifting lockdowns prematurely.
"We have to follow, if ever, the advice of the WHO that we cannot be abrupt on this. So one of the option being eyed is phase by phase (lifting). Maybe it should be targeted, we have to choose (which establishments) should reopen and what work force would be allowed to work, what transport systems would be allowed," Nograles told radio station dzBB.
"So we have these kinds of guidelines that should be imposed and once they are approved by President Duterte, we would have new do's and don't's," he added.
The enhanced community quarantine started last March 17 and was supposed to end last April 13 but President Rodrigo Duterte decided to extend it to give the government more time to conduct tests and strengthen the country's health system.
Swift action vowed
Nograles assured the public that the government would act swiftly in the event of a resurgence of coronavirus cases.
"There is a caveat... if the numbers increase, if there is a new spike or surge or resurgence or second wave or relapse, whatever terminology will be used, the bottom line is if we see another increase in the number of cases, we have to be prepared. The government has to decide quickly," the IATF spokesman said.
"We need to be strict again, implement again the enhanced community quarantine, either as a whole or in particular localities. Our action should be swift," he added.
Nograles said the IATF is expected to discuss what industries and sectors would be allowed to resume operations, whether the quarantine should still cover the entire island of Luzon or only selected areas.
The government, Nograles said, would consider five parameters in deciding whether to lift or extend the quarantine namely the epidemiological curve or the acceleration or deceleration of COVID-19 cases; health aspects, including capacity to tests, isolate, and treat patients and facilities; social aspect; economic aspect; and security aspect.
"We do not know yet what will happen tomorrow. Hopefully, we will arrive at a consensus. Whatever recommendations to be presented, ultimately, it will be President Duterte who will decide," Nograles said.
Nograles said regardless of the post-quarantine scenario to be implemented, the wearing of masks, constant disinfection, and social distancing would still be required.
He said the government is also expected to ramp up the testing of patients under investigation and patients under monitoring on Tuesday because of its improved testing capacity.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/04/19/2008370/iatf-luzon-lockdown-restrictions-cannot-be-lifted-all-once
Members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases met Sunday to discuss possible scenarios and measures to be enforced once the Luzon-wide quarantine ends.
While the task force has yet to decide whether to extend or lift the quarantine, its spokesman, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, said the Philippines has to consider the reminder of the World Health Organization about the risks of lifting lockdowns prematurely.
"We have to follow, if ever, the advice of the WHO that we cannot be abrupt on this. So one of the option being eyed is phase by phase (lifting). Maybe it should be targeted, we have to choose (which establishments) should reopen and what work force would be allowed to work, what transport systems would be allowed," Nograles told radio station dzBB.
"So we have these kinds of guidelines that should be imposed and once they are approved by President Duterte, we would have new do's and don't's," he added.
The enhanced community quarantine started last March 17 and was supposed to end last April 13 but President Rodrigo Duterte decided to extend it to give the government more time to conduct tests and strengthen the country's health system.
Swift action vowed
Nograles assured the public that the government would act swiftly in the event of a resurgence of coronavirus cases.
"There is a caveat... if the numbers increase, if there is a new spike or surge or resurgence or second wave or relapse, whatever terminology will be used, the bottom line is if we see another increase in the number of cases, we have to be prepared. The government has to decide quickly," the IATF spokesman said.
"We need to be strict again, implement again the enhanced community quarantine, either as a whole or in particular localities. Our action should be swift," he added.
Nograles said the IATF is expected to discuss what industries and sectors would be allowed to resume operations, whether the quarantine should still cover the entire island of Luzon or only selected areas.
The government, Nograles said, would consider five parameters in deciding whether to lift or extend the quarantine namely the epidemiological curve or the acceleration or deceleration of COVID-19 cases; health aspects, including capacity to tests, isolate, and treat patients and facilities; social aspect; economic aspect; and security aspect.
"We do not know yet what will happen tomorrow. Hopefully, we will arrive at a consensus. Whatever recommendations to be presented, ultimately, it will be President Duterte who will decide," Nograles said.
Nograles said regardless of the post-quarantine scenario to be implemented, the wearing of masks, constant disinfection, and social distancing would still be required.
He said the government is also expected to ramp up the testing of patients under investigation and patients under monitoring on Tuesday because of its improved testing capacity.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/04/19/2008370/iatf-luzon-lockdown-restrictions-cannot-be-lifted-all-once
What happens to Luzon-wide ECQ after April 30? Duterte may get reco on April 25, says Año
A recommendation on what action will be taken after the extended enhanced community quarantine in the entire Luzon lapses on April 30 may be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte on April 25, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Sunday.
In an interview on ANC, Año said the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emergency Infectious Diseases is expected to meet again on Monday where the latest on the"COVID-19 epidemiology" will be presented.
“We are going to take into consideration whatever recommendation and conclusions that they will be able to present tomorrow… along with several factors, like our health system capacity at the present, looking into the economic factors, and also social factors,” said Año.
“So, we’re thinking of coming up with a recommendation to the president probably, maybe, on the 25th. And then, of course, it’s going to be the president who shall decide whether the ECQ will be lifted, or modified, or partially lifted, or even extended,” he said, adding expanding the ECQ to cover areas outside Luzon is also an option.
Año ruled out, however, a “total lockdown for the entire country,” saying what government intends to do is to implement the existing measure “on a very strict mode.”
He also clarified that government will not implement martial law, although a “martial law-style” implementation of the quarantine measures may be done in severely-affected areas where there are rampant violations.
“We want the people to be aware on the graveness of this problem,” he said. “We are increasing actually policemen and soldiers to implement the remaining days of the lockdown.”
Año said severely-affected areas, where there are ongoing local transmissions of the disease, like Cebu City’s Sitio Zapatera, are continuously being looked into.
He warned that with the stricter implementation of the lockdown, authorities are expected to apprehend more violators of quarantine measures, especially those “engaging in other activities like drinking and gambling.”
Año lamented the apparent lack of concern by some people, “as if they just don’t care.”
He said local government units are being encouraged to pass ordinances to punish violators after the lockdown period.
“For the rest of the rest of the year, I think we are going to confront and face this COVID problem until a vaccine is invented,” he said, noting that the new normal will require people to always wear masks, observe physical distancing, and avoid mass gatherings.
The government placed the entire Luzon, home to more than half of the country's population, on lockdown from March 17 to curb the spread of the new coronavirus disease. As a result, economic activities have also been limited.
On Saturday, the country's tally of COVID-19 cases breached the 6,000-mark.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/19/20/what-happens-to-luzon-wide-ecq-after-april-30-duterte-may-get-reco-on-april-25-says-ao
In an interview on ANC, Año said the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emergency Infectious Diseases is expected to meet again on Monday where the latest on the"COVID-19 epidemiology" will be presented.
“We are going to take into consideration whatever recommendation and conclusions that they will be able to present tomorrow… along with several factors, like our health system capacity at the present, looking into the economic factors, and also social factors,” said Año.
“So, we’re thinking of coming up with a recommendation to the president probably, maybe, on the 25th. And then, of course, it’s going to be the president who shall decide whether the ECQ will be lifted, or modified, or partially lifted, or even extended,” he said, adding expanding the ECQ to cover areas outside Luzon is also an option.
Año ruled out, however, a “total lockdown for the entire country,” saying what government intends to do is to implement the existing measure “on a very strict mode.”
He also clarified that government will not implement martial law, although a “martial law-style” implementation of the quarantine measures may be done in severely-affected areas where there are rampant violations.
“We want the people to be aware on the graveness of this problem,” he said. “We are increasing actually policemen and soldiers to implement the remaining days of the lockdown.”
Año said severely-affected areas, where there are ongoing local transmissions of the disease, like Cebu City’s Sitio Zapatera, are continuously being looked into.
He warned that with the stricter implementation of the lockdown, authorities are expected to apprehend more violators of quarantine measures, especially those “engaging in other activities like drinking and gambling.”
Año lamented the apparent lack of concern by some people, “as if they just don’t care.”
He said local government units are being encouraged to pass ordinances to punish violators after the lockdown period.
“For the rest of the rest of the year, I think we are going to confront and face this COVID problem until a vaccine is invented,” he said, noting that the new normal will require people to always wear masks, observe physical distancing, and avoid mass gatherings.
The government placed the entire Luzon, home to more than half of the country's population, on lockdown from March 17 to curb the spread of the new coronavirus disease. As a result, economic activities have also been limited.
On Saturday, the country's tally of COVID-19 cases breached the 6,000-mark.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/19/20/what-happens-to-luzon-wide-ecq-after-april-30-duterte-may-get-reco-on-april-25-says-ao
Sotto: Senate session to resume on May 4
SENATE President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III on Saturday stressed that session resumes on May 4, whether or not the executive department will lift the Enhanced Community Quarantine due to COVID19 pandemic.
Sotto explained that they can never change the legislative calendar, meaning they need to convene session on May 4.
"'Yung legislative calendar, hindi pwedeng baguhin kahit na mag-extend ang executive department o sabihin ng Pangulo dapat iextend ang ECQ para safe pa, ang legislative calendar natin hindi pwedeng baguhin we have to convene on May 4," said Sotto.
"Trabaho ko yun (mag-convene), mag-isa man ako, I'm sure marami sa amin makaka-attend, ikoconvene ko yun," he added.
In the event that a total lockdown will be implemented, Sotto said they can convene but will also suspend immediately.
"Kung sabihin ng Pangulo na total lockdown, magko-convene pa rin kami tapos magsu-suspend lang para anytime pwedeng magpatawag," he further said.
Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson has a different view on the matter.
Lacson said they can extend their break and resume session once the ECQ is lifted.
"May mungkahi na pag lockdown pa rin tayo at ganito pa rin situation at mataas ang health risk baka baguhin ang legislative calendar," Lacson said.
"Pero pagbalik namin ng May magsi-sine die kami ng June. So mga 1 buwan lang yan, so pwede mag-comply kami na mag-sine die kami, pwede i-extend ang session break,"he added.
https://journal.com.ph/news/nation/sotto-senate-session-resume-may-4
Sotto explained that they can never change the legislative calendar, meaning they need to convene session on May 4.
"'Yung legislative calendar, hindi pwedeng baguhin kahit na mag-extend ang executive department o sabihin ng Pangulo dapat iextend ang ECQ para safe pa, ang legislative calendar natin hindi pwedeng baguhin we have to convene on May 4," said Sotto.
"Trabaho ko yun (mag-convene), mag-isa man ako, I'm sure marami sa amin makaka-attend, ikoconvene ko yun," he added.
In the event that a total lockdown will be implemented, Sotto said they can convene but will also suspend immediately.
"Kung sabihin ng Pangulo na total lockdown, magko-convene pa rin kami tapos magsu-suspend lang para anytime pwedeng magpatawag," he further said.
Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson has a different view on the matter.
Lacson said they can extend their break and resume session once the ECQ is lifted.
"May mungkahi na pag lockdown pa rin tayo at ganito pa rin situation at mataas ang health risk baka baguhin ang legislative calendar," Lacson said.
"Pero pagbalik namin ng May magsi-sine die kami ng June. So mga 1 buwan lang yan, so pwede mag-comply kami na mag-sine die kami, pwede i-extend ang session break,"he added.
https://journal.com.ph/news/nation/sotto-senate-session-resume-may-4
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Extension of ECQ until mid-May not true: Nograles
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles on Saturday vehemently denied he had told businessmen that the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon will be extended until mid-May.
Nograles merely dismissed as “fake, false, and untrue” the supposed plan to extend the ECQ anew.
“Napakalayo sa katotohanan (This is far from the truth). This is totally false, totally untrue, totally fake. So huwag na po nating patulan iyan (Just ignore it),” he said in a virtual presser aired on state-run PTV-4.
Nograles issued the statement after being asked if he had really informed businessmen about President Rodrigo Duterte's willingness to order another extension of ECQ until mid-May.
Nograles reiterated that the small group formed by Duterte has yet to present its possible recommendations with regard to ECQ’s fate.
He added that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) still has to deliberate on the recommendations that will be presented by the small group.
“Sa Lunes, pagu-usapan namin at ire-rekomenda pa namin ito kay Pangulo. At ultimately, si Pangulo ang magde-desisyon (We will discuss it on Monday. We will then make a recommendation to the President. Ultimately, the President will be the one to decide),” Nograles, spokesperson of IATF-EID, said.
The ECQ in Luzon to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country is expected to end on April 30.
The Luzon-wide ECQ might either be partially lifted, totally lifted, or extended anew, depending on the IATF-EID’s recommendations that will be transmitted to Duterte.
The government has to consider five parameters, which include the “trends in the Covid-19 epidemiological curve, the capacity of the health care system, and the social, economic, and security factors,” in deciding on the fate of ECQ in Luzon.
Not powerless vs. Covid-19
Nograles maintained that the country’s fight against Covid-19 would be successful if everyone cooperates with the government.
He said the country is “not powerless” against Covid-19 because there are several ways to arrest the spread of the contagion.
He said Covid-19 deaths could be prevented when people heed the government’s quarantine protocols.
“Each loss cannot be quantified; they hurt us all. But we are not powerless against this disease; we can do something about it,” Nograles said.
Nograles then reiterated his call on the public to follow the ECQ guidelines.
“Sundin ang ECQ. Manatili sa bahay, Mag-hugas ng kamay (Follow ECQ. Stay at home. Wash your hands),” he said.
The Philippines has so far reported 5,878 Covid-19 infections, with 387 deaths and 487 recoveries.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1100259
Nograles merely dismissed as “fake, false, and untrue” the supposed plan to extend the ECQ anew.
“Napakalayo sa katotohanan (This is far from the truth). This is totally false, totally untrue, totally fake. So huwag na po nating patulan iyan (Just ignore it),” he said in a virtual presser aired on state-run PTV-4.
Nograles issued the statement after being asked if he had really informed businessmen about President Rodrigo Duterte's willingness to order another extension of ECQ until mid-May.
Nograles reiterated that the small group formed by Duterte has yet to present its possible recommendations with regard to ECQ’s fate.
He added that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) still has to deliberate on the recommendations that will be presented by the small group.
“Sa Lunes, pagu-usapan namin at ire-rekomenda pa namin ito kay Pangulo. At ultimately, si Pangulo ang magde-desisyon (We will discuss it on Monday. We will then make a recommendation to the President. Ultimately, the President will be the one to decide),” Nograles, spokesperson of IATF-EID, said.
The ECQ in Luzon to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country is expected to end on April 30.
The Luzon-wide ECQ might either be partially lifted, totally lifted, or extended anew, depending on the IATF-EID’s recommendations that will be transmitted to Duterte.
The government has to consider five parameters, which include the “trends in the Covid-19 epidemiological curve, the capacity of the health care system, and the social, economic, and security factors,” in deciding on the fate of ECQ in Luzon.
Not powerless vs. Covid-19
Nograles maintained that the country’s fight against Covid-19 would be successful if everyone cooperates with the government.
He said the country is “not powerless” against Covid-19 because there are several ways to arrest the spread of the contagion.
He said Covid-19 deaths could be prevented when people heed the government’s quarantine protocols.
“Each loss cannot be quantified; they hurt us all. But we are not powerless against this disease; we can do something about it,” Nograles said.
Nograles then reiterated his call on the public to follow the ECQ guidelines.
“Sundin ang ECQ. Manatili sa bahay, Mag-hugas ng kamay (Follow ECQ. Stay at home. Wash your hands),” he said.
The Philippines has so far reported 5,878 Covid-19 infections, with 387 deaths and 487 recoveries.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1100259
Reports of Duterte extending ECQ until mid-May ‘totally untrue’ — IATF
President Rodrigo Duterte has no plans as of yet to extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon, Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Spokesperson Karlo Nograles assured on Saturday.
Answering a reporter’s query during the online press conference, Nograles refuted reports that he allegedly told businessmen during a briefing that Duterte was “leaning to extend the ECQ until mid-May,” stressing that it is “totally fake.”
“Nako, napakalayo sa katotothanan (that is very far from the truth). This is totally false, totally, untrue, totally fake. So ‘wag na po natin patulan ‘yan (Best not to entertain it). Fake, false, untrue. Totally,” the IATF spokesperson stressed.
The Luzon-wide ECQ, which was originally supposed to be lifted by midnight of April 13, was ordered extended by Duterte until April 30 as COVID-19 cases continue to grow both nationwide and worldwide.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday, however, said in a dzMM interview that if the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country continues, it is possible for the government to extend the ECQ beyond April 30.
The ECQ has suspended public mass transportation, prohibited mass gatherings, as well as ordered the temporary closure of some businesses, excluding hospitals, groceries, drug stores, and other establishments providing essential services.
As of Saturday, April 17, the country has recorded 5,878 COVID-19 cases including 487 recoveries and 387 deaths.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1260757/reports-of-duterte-extending-ecq-until-mid-may-totally-untrue-iatf
Answering a reporter’s query during the online press conference, Nograles refuted reports that he allegedly told businessmen during a briefing that Duterte was “leaning to extend the ECQ until mid-May,” stressing that it is “totally fake.”
“Nako, napakalayo sa katotothanan (that is very far from the truth). This is totally false, totally, untrue, totally fake. So ‘wag na po natin patulan ‘yan (Best not to entertain it). Fake, false, untrue. Totally,” the IATF spokesperson stressed.
The Luzon-wide ECQ, which was originally supposed to be lifted by midnight of April 13, was ordered extended by Duterte until April 30 as COVID-19 cases continue to grow both nationwide and worldwide.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday, however, said in a dzMM interview that if the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country continues, it is possible for the government to extend the ECQ beyond April 30.
The ECQ has suspended public mass transportation, prohibited mass gatherings, as well as ordered the temporary closure of some businesses, excluding hospitals, groceries, drug stores, and other establishments providing essential services.
As of Saturday, April 17, the country has recorded 5,878 COVID-19 cases including 487 recoveries and 387 deaths.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1260757/reports-of-duterte-extending-ecq-until-mid-may-totally-untrue-iatf
NEDA chief quits; Duque stays for now
Amid the rampage of the coronavirus pandemic in the Philippines, the Duterte administration’s chief economist resigned while its highest health authority apologized for his shortcomings which forced the Senate earlier to call for his resignation.
National Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia, a member of the government’s economic team, announced his resignation Friday citing personal reasons and “differences in development philosophy” with a few of his fellow Cabinet members.
Among the members of the economic cluster of the Cabinet, Pernia was vocal on his position for a gradual lifting of the Enhanced Community Quarantine on April 30 and allowing malls and public transportation to resume partial operations.
This prompted the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan to raise the question as to whether Pernia’s resignation meant the lockdown will be extended.
“Does Pernia’s resignation indicate that there will be a lockdown extension? NEDA has stood for a selective community quarantine to be able to revive the economy, instead of an indefinite and extensive lockdown,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said.
Elsewhere, just a day after 14 senators asked him to resign over failure of leadership, among others, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, in an interview over dzMM beamed nationwide, apologized for his shortcomings in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic which claimed the lives of almost 400 Filipinos and sickened almost 6,000 others.
Since the problem of COVID-19 is fairly new, Duque said they did not have any past experience in handling such a virus.
In Malacañang, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Duque still enjoyed the trust of President Rodrigo Duterte, despite mounting calls by several senators for him to resign.
Nograles, also Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases spokesperson, admitted that “missteps” in the fight against COVID-19 were normal.
Nograles said members of the Cabinet expressed their support for Duque since the latter had always been straightforward when it came to assessing the COVID-19 situation.
Duque noted it was not only the Philippines, but other countries, were grappling with the virus, which had Wuhan City in Hubei province in China as the epicenter.
Regarding Duque’s admission, Senator Panfilo Lacson hoped this would be followed quickly by more proactive and positive action to address the issues and concerns raised by his own people at the DOH, as well as government and private physicians and health workers against his leadership.
“After all, it is them who have brought most of these concerns to the attention of the senators who signed the call for his resignation,” said Lacson, one of the signatories in Senate Resolution 362 which asked Duque to quit his post.
Pernia’s resignation happened at a time when the country is battling the impact of the coronavirus disease which is seen to make the economy contract to its lowest level in decades.
Duterte, who accepted Pernia’s resignation, has tapped Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua as acting secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority, Malacañang announced shortly after the resignation.
“After reflection during Holy Week, and consultations with my family and close colleagues, I have decided to resign from my post as Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning. This is due partly to personal reasons and partly to differences in development philosophy with a few of my fellow Cabinet members,” Pernia, who thanked the President for appointing him, said in a statement.
“I leave NEDA knowing that we have initiated and implemented meaningful changes that will help the country overcome these challenging times and on to a higher growth trajectory,” Pernia said.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the head of the Duterte administration’s economic team, said he was not consulted by Pernia regarding the latter’s resignation. “No, he didn’t,” Dominguez said.
Pernia is an economist, writer and professor emeritus at the University of the Philippines School of Economics. Throughout his long career as an economist, Pernia also consulted for the World Bank, the Population Council East and South Asia Regional Office, the United Nations University, the United Nations Center for Regional Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, and USAid.
Pernia’s replacement, Chua, served as the chief economist and undersecretary for the proposed Strategy, Economics, and Results Group of the Department of Finance.
Chua, as DOF official, helps the government achieve its ten‐point socioeconomic agenda by providing strategic advice to the Finance Secretary and the Cabinet Economic Development Cluster, leading to the preparation of economic policy research in aid of priority reforms, and shepherding priority reforms from incubation to implementation.
Duque, in the interview, also admitted he was “really hurt” by the call of several senators for him to resign.
However, Lacson said they reached such collective decision since the coronavirus would impact both the health and economy sectors.
“Our economy is closed for how many days already? More than a month. And we extended. Our manufacturing sector, our industrial sector, infrastructure sector are not moving. So how long can our government subsidize or give doleout to those who lost their jobs?” Senate President Vicente Sotto III asked.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said the President has made a decision for Duque to stay put, but expects him to work “even harder” following the call.
Nograles said: “Missteps cannot be avoided because the enemy is a novel strain of coronavirus. In this battle, missteps are normal, because number one, it’s novel, it’s a new virus.
“The world does not even know how the virus operates, how it reacts, how it moves.”
https://manilastandard.net/index.php/news/top-stories/321816/neda-chief-quits-duque-stays-for-now.html
National Economic and Development Authority director-general Ernesto Pernia, a member of the government’s economic team, announced his resignation Friday citing personal reasons and “differences in development philosophy” with a few of his fellow Cabinet members.
Among the members of the economic cluster of the Cabinet, Pernia was vocal on his position for a gradual lifting of the Enhanced Community Quarantine on April 30 and allowing malls and public transportation to resume partial operations.
This prompted the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan to raise the question as to whether Pernia’s resignation meant the lockdown will be extended.
“Does Pernia’s resignation indicate that there will be a lockdown extension? NEDA has stood for a selective community quarantine to be able to revive the economy, instead of an indefinite and extensive lockdown,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said.
Elsewhere, just a day after 14 senators asked him to resign over failure of leadership, among others, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, in an interview over dzMM beamed nationwide, apologized for his shortcomings in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic which claimed the lives of almost 400 Filipinos and sickened almost 6,000 others.
Since the problem of COVID-19 is fairly new, Duque said they did not have any past experience in handling such a virus.
In Malacañang, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Duque still enjoyed the trust of President Rodrigo Duterte, despite mounting calls by several senators for him to resign.
Nograles, also Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases spokesperson, admitted that “missteps” in the fight against COVID-19 were normal.
Nograles said members of the Cabinet expressed their support for Duque since the latter had always been straightforward when it came to assessing the COVID-19 situation.
Duque noted it was not only the Philippines, but other countries, were grappling with the virus, which had Wuhan City in Hubei province in China as the epicenter.
Regarding Duque’s admission, Senator Panfilo Lacson hoped this would be followed quickly by more proactive and positive action to address the issues and concerns raised by his own people at the DOH, as well as government and private physicians and health workers against his leadership.
“After all, it is them who have brought most of these concerns to the attention of the senators who signed the call for his resignation,” said Lacson, one of the signatories in Senate Resolution 362 which asked Duque to quit his post.
Pernia’s resignation happened at a time when the country is battling the impact of the coronavirus disease which is seen to make the economy contract to its lowest level in decades.
Duterte, who accepted Pernia’s resignation, has tapped Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua as acting secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority, Malacañang announced shortly after the resignation.
“After reflection during Holy Week, and consultations with my family and close colleagues, I have decided to resign from my post as Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning. This is due partly to personal reasons and partly to differences in development philosophy with a few of my fellow Cabinet members,” Pernia, who thanked the President for appointing him, said in a statement.
“I leave NEDA knowing that we have initiated and implemented meaningful changes that will help the country overcome these challenging times and on to a higher growth trajectory,” Pernia said.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the head of the Duterte administration’s economic team, said he was not consulted by Pernia regarding the latter’s resignation. “No, he didn’t,” Dominguez said.
Pernia is an economist, writer and professor emeritus at the University of the Philippines School of Economics. Throughout his long career as an economist, Pernia also consulted for the World Bank, the Population Council East and South Asia Regional Office, the United Nations University, the United Nations Center for Regional Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, and USAid.
Pernia’s replacement, Chua, served as the chief economist and undersecretary for the proposed Strategy, Economics, and Results Group of the Department of Finance.
Chua, as DOF official, helps the government achieve its ten‐point socioeconomic agenda by providing strategic advice to the Finance Secretary and the Cabinet Economic Development Cluster, leading to the preparation of economic policy research in aid of priority reforms, and shepherding priority reforms from incubation to implementation.
Duque, in the interview, also admitted he was “really hurt” by the call of several senators for him to resign.
However, Lacson said they reached such collective decision since the coronavirus would impact both the health and economy sectors.
“Our economy is closed for how many days already? More than a month. And we extended. Our manufacturing sector, our industrial sector, infrastructure sector are not moving. So how long can our government subsidize or give doleout to those who lost their jobs?” Senate President Vicente Sotto III asked.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said the President has made a decision for Duque to stay put, but expects him to work “even harder” following the call.
Nograles said: “Missteps cannot be avoided because the enemy is a novel strain of coronavirus. In this battle, missteps are normal, because number one, it’s novel, it’s a new virus.
“The world does not even know how the virus operates, how it reacts, how it moves.”
https://manilastandard.net/index.php/news/top-stories/321816/neda-chief-quits-duque-stays-for-now.html
DOLE wants 30% of workers back after quarantine
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) wants a gradual return to work of employees, with only 30 percent reporting back to work after the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon is lifted.
During the Management Association of the Philippines’ webinar yesterday, Labor Undersecretary Ana Dione said the DOLE does not expect all employees to immediately be allowed to work after quarantine ends on April 30.
“We are thinking it should not be an abrupt report to work for all the workers. We are thinking of maybe gradual, about 30 percent, and then after one month, 50 percent and then 75 percent,” Dione said.
She said a gradual approach is needed as companies need to make operational adjustments.
“Companies will also have to adjust, taking into consideration occupational safety and health of the workers and also social distancing,” she said.
Luzon was placed on enhanced community quarantine to limit the movement of people and slow the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
With Luzon on lockdown, the government only allowed some establishments to continue operations.
Establishments allowed to operate during the quarantine period are manufacturers of food, essential products, medicines and medical products; retail establishments; logistics service providers; hospitals and medical clinics; food preparation and water refilling stations; delivery services; banks and capital markets; power, energy, water, information technology and telecommunications, waste disposal services; as well as exporters and business process outsourcing firms.
While these establishments could continue operations during the lockdown, they are only allowed to have a skeleton workforce.
Only that part of the supply chain of food and essential products, as well as medicine and medical products, have been allowed by the Department of Trade and Industry to operate with 50 percent workforce or higher to ensure sufficient supply.
Apart from pushing for a gradual return to work, Dione said DOLE is also planning to come up with programs for those to be laid off.
“We’re seeing that there will be a spike in unemployment rate, so we want to be in the localities, in the barangay level for that side,” she said.
The DOLE is providing assistance to workers whose incomes were affected by the enhanced community quarantine under the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).
Last April 15, DOLE closed the online application for CAMP, citing the available fund worth P1.6 billion is close to being depleted.
Since the implementation of CAMP from March 23, DOLE has provided one-time P5,000 assistance to 236,412 workers from 10,663 establishments, with total cash disbursement amounting to P1.2 billion.
DOLE will be giving cash assistance to 85,563 more workers in the coming days.
Workers’ dismay
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) claimed yesterday that workers in the formal sector got dismayed and confused over the cancelation of CAMP by DOLE.
In a statement, TUCP president Raymond Mendoza noted that a majority of such workers have not received CAMP assistance so they felt betrayed when the program was suddenly stopped.
“Because of this cash assistance stoppage, jobless ordinary workers and their families are confused and feel betrayed right now. Millions of locked down workers, particularly those who have yet to receive the cash grant, are feeling betrayed by the stoppage of their only lifeline cash assistance,” he added.
Mendoza said displaced workers felt they were “pushed into lockdown, deprived of their jobs, kept in the dark corner and left out amid hunger, poverty and fear.”
Some 1.4 million establishments and enterprises have reported to DOLE that they were affected by the enhanced community quarantine.
Mendoza said the Inter-Agency Task Force must “immediately, widely and clearly explain the matter to the ordinary workers and avoid confusion.”
OFWs to bounce back
As the government strikes a balance between public safety and the economy, authorities remain optimistic that displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) would be able to bounce back after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Secretary to the Cabinet Karlo Nograles made the statement even as economists expect that remittances from OFWs are likely to take a hit this year with the pandemic affecting the economies of almost all countries where OFWs are based.
“Well, it’s a balancing (act). Because number one, maybe, because of this crisis what will happen and you will see that the OFWs will still be there,” he said.
New opportunities will rise for Filipino skilled workers despite the downside of losing jobs abroad amid COVID-19 pandemic, Nograles said when asked about how the government is looking at unemployment and loss of remittances.
“Necessarily, there is a change in the landscape. There will be industries that will rise; there will be industries that fall. Whatever it is, the skill of the overseas Filipino will still be in demand. But now, we have to contend with balancing it that there will be no brain drain here,” Nograles said.
“We also need Filipinos in the forefront of this battle,” he added.
Nograles said the health sector will continue to be one of the major sources of opportunities for Filipinos. He also counted information technology as among the areas growing after the crisis.- With Sheila Crisostomo, Christina Mendez
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/04/18/2008098/dole-wants-30-workers-back-after-quarantine
During the Management Association of the Philippines’ webinar yesterday, Labor Undersecretary Ana Dione said the DOLE does not expect all employees to immediately be allowed to work after quarantine ends on April 30.
“We are thinking it should not be an abrupt report to work for all the workers. We are thinking of maybe gradual, about 30 percent, and then after one month, 50 percent and then 75 percent,” Dione said.
She said a gradual approach is needed as companies need to make operational adjustments.
“Companies will also have to adjust, taking into consideration occupational safety and health of the workers and also social distancing,” she said.
Luzon was placed on enhanced community quarantine to limit the movement of people and slow the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
With Luzon on lockdown, the government only allowed some establishments to continue operations.
Establishments allowed to operate during the quarantine period are manufacturers of food, essential products, medicines and medical products; retail establishments; logistics service providers; hospitals and medical clinics; food preparation and water refilling stations; delivery services; banks and capital markets; power, energy, water, information technology and telecommunications, waste disposal services; as well as exporters and business process outsourcing firms.
While these establishments could continue operations during the lockdown, they are only allowed to have a skeleton workforce.
Only that part of the supply chain of food and essential products, as well as medicine and medical products, have been allowed by the Department of Trade and Industry to operate with 50 percent workforce or higher to ensure sufficient supply.
Apart from pushing for a gradual return to work, Dione said DOLE is also planning to come up with programs for those to be laid off.
“We’re seeing that there will be a spike in unemployment rate, so we want to be in the localities, in the barangay level for that side,” she said.
The DOLE is providing assistance to workers whose incomes were affected by the enhanced community quarantine under the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).
Last April 15, DOLE closed the online application for CAMP, citing the available fund worth P1.6 billion is close to being depleted.
Since the implementation of CAMP from March 23, DOLE has provided one-time P5,000 assistance to 236,412 workers from 10,663 establishments, with total cash disbursement amounting to P1.2 billion.
DOLE will be giving cash assistance to 85,563 more workers in the coming days.
Workers’ dismay
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) claimed yesterday that workers in the formal sector got dismayed and confused over the cancelation of CAMP by DOLE.
In a statement, TUCP president Raymond Mendoza noted that a majority of such workers have not received CAMP assistance so they felt betrayed when the program was suddenly stopped.
“Because of this cash assistance stoppage, jobless ordinary workers and their families are confused and feel betrayed right now. Millions of locked down workers, particularly those who have yet to receive the cash grant, are feeling betrayed by the stoppage of their only lifeline cash assistance,” he added.
Mendoza said displaced workers felt they were “pushed into lockdown, deprived of their jobs, kept in the dark corner and left out amid hunger, poverty and fear.”
Some 1.4 million establishments and enterprises have reported to DOLE that they were affected by the enhanced community quarantine.
Mendoza said the Inter-Agency Task Force must “immediately, widely and clearly explain the matter to the ordinary workers and avoid confusion.”
OFWs to bounce back
As the government strikes a balance between public safety and the economy, authorities remain optimistic that displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) would be able to bounce back after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Secretary to the Cabinet Karlo Nograles made the statement even as economists expect that remittances from OFWs are likely to take a hit this year with the pandemic affecting the economies of almost all countries where OFWs are based.
“Well, it’s a balancing (act). Because number one, maybe, because of this crisis what will happen and you will see that the OFWs will still be there,” he said.
New opportunities will rise for Filipino skilled workers despite the downside of losing jobs abroad amid COVID-19 pandemic, Nograles said when asked about how the government is looking at unemployment and loss of remittances.
“Necessarily, there is a change in the landscape. There will be industries that will rise; there will be industries that fall. Whatever it is, the skill of the overseas Filipino will still be in demand. But now, we have to contend with balancing it that there will be no brain drain here,” Nograles said.
“We also need Filipinos in the forefront of this battle,” he added.
Nograles said the health sector will continue to be one of the major sources of opportunities for Filipinos. He also counted information technology as among the areas growing after the crisis.- With Sheila Crisostomo, Christina Mendez
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/04/18/2008098/dole-wants-30-workers-back-after-quarantine
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