By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said Friday that the decision of the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ (IATF-MEID) to immediately place the city and province of Iloilo under the “very restrictive” Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) was due to the presence of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) variant in a neighboring province.
Roque on Friday walked back his previous statement that the city and province would remain under the less restrictive Modified ECQ (MECQ).
In a video uploaded to the official Facebook page of the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson, he said that the ECQ would begin on July 22, but later clarified to media that the ECQ would take effect immediately until July 31.
The IATF-MEID also issued Resolution No. 127-E on Friday which also took effect immediately.
While the resolution was released to government media only on July 16, its text showed that it was signed on July 15, the same day that the city and province’s retention under MECQ was announced.
Roque told Daily Guardian in a phone interview that the ECQ status of the city and province was “anticipatory” and “precautionary” to prevent the entry of foreign-bred COVID-19 variants.
Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire in a briefing on Friday announced that 2 cases of the ‘Delta’ variant were reported in Antique.
According to another DOH press release, the two cases from Region 6, which were detected on May 27, have since been tagged as recovered.
But DOH-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD) Regional Director Dr. Adriano Suba-an in another press conference clarified that one of the Delta variant cases died last May 31.
DOH-WV CHD Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (RESU) chief Dr. Jessie Glen Alonsabe confirmed that the Antique patients were the first locally confirmed cases of the Delta variant.
Delta variants of the region’s residents were first detected in Returning Overseas Filipinos, who were quarantined in Manila and recovered before heading to their residences.
“This is anticipatory and precautionary to prevent the entry of deadlier variants into both the province and city of Iloilo. Genome sequencing indicated that there was a case in a nearby province. It’s been examined where it came from, and until it’s been conclusively shown, it’s better to put Iloilo under ECQ because the data as examined by the [IATF-MEID] supports the classification of MECQ but with this new trend, it was deemed best to recommend to the President the imposition of ECQ,” Roque said.
Roque later told Daily Guardian in a text message that the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Region 6 (DSWD-6) is now coordinating with local government units (LGUs) to determine how many families within the ECQ areas are affected and are eligible to receive aid from the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).
ILOILO CITY
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas learned of the ECQ status before Roque’s announcement, and expressed confusion during a meeting with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) over the national government’s sudden shift, citing the lower average of COVID-19 cases in July.
The latest data from the Iloilo City Health Office indicated that from July 1 to 15, the city logged 1,450 new COVID-19 cases, with an average of 97 cases per day.
This showed a 20.29 percent decrease from the number of cases logged from June 1 to 15 (1,819), and a 19.83 decrease in the daily average in the same period (121 cases per day).
The mayor also cited that the Health Care Utilization Rate (HCUR) in Iloilo City was aggravated by COVID-19 patients from other parts of the region.
“We cannot understand why there is this threat of ECQ to Iloilo City. Compared to cases in June, we are 20 plus percent lower. We have done everything, and [DILG-6 Regional Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero] knows that,” the mayor said in a virtual meeting.
Treñas did not hide his anger in the presence of DILG Assistant Sec. Epimaco Densing III over the reclassification, which he said was not consulted with the local governments.
“You come up with your own recommendation! Where can you find that your own regional [IATF-MEID] came up with a different recommendation? Then you say, within one week? What will we do within one week? How can we lower the [HCUR] in one week? It is the DOH who is able to do that!” he said.
In a radio interview, the mayor seemed to have calmed down and struck a conciliatory tone, saying that he was already preparing his Executive Order to implement the ECQ in the city.
He added that he was reaching out to DSWD for material assistance for those who will be affected by the lockdowns.
On Tuesday, he demanded that DSWD-6 provide the city with 150,000 food packs weekly if the city would be placed under ECQ.
“We are preparing the EO, we can’t do anything if that’s what they want. There will be many businesses closing, and we are coordinating with the DSWD on what they can provide to us,” the mayor said.
He also told the public to “pray for help from God”, and to avoid panic buying.
“If you are at your homes, please kneel and pray to God that we can get out of this problem, and hopefully with everyone’s help, we can solve this,” he added.
ILOILO PROVINCE
In a press briefing, Defensor said that he would meet with mayors today, July 17, to consult them regarding the province’s ECQ, due to the distinction between ECQ policies in 2020 and 2021.
He previously expressed reservations against ECQ in the province, citing civil liberties and economic concerns.
He said he would rather wait for the mayors’ inputs, and nixed any travel restrictions to other provinces, especially to Antique where the Delta variant was confirmed.
The governor said that he will further revise his EO No. 222 to be attuned with the IATF-MEID’s Omnibus Guidelines on the ECQ.
He issued EO No. 222-A on Thursday shortly after Roque’s MECQ retention announcement, supposedly extending the MECQ to July 22.
“[The ECQ] is effective immediately even without our EO. We will revise our EO so that it is ECQ then we will issue it based on the Omnibus Guidelines. We have to make adjustments because upon review, the ECQ right now is different from the ECQ before. We will do it as fast as we can,” said the governor.
Daily Guardian has also reached out to League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Iloilo Chapter President Trixie Fernandez for her reaction to the province’s ECQ status.
