POLICE deputy chief for operations and concurrent Joint Task Force COVID Shield chief Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Sunday said enforcing quarantine rules will be more difficult once Metro Manila transitions to general community quarantine (GCQ) from its current enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) status.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on the management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is expected to discuss today if the ECQ will be extended beyond May 15. Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has said some cities may transition to GCQ already due to improved condition.
The 17 Metro Manila mayors have recommended three scenarios to the task force on the fate of the isolation period. These are: extension of the ECQ for two more weeks, from May 16-30; GCQ will be imposed in the entire Metro Manila; and a modified GCQ, wherein LGUs are allowed to impose a lockdown on a specific barangay or zone if needed.
Eleazar said under a GCQ, there will be more people and vehicles in the streets as quarantine rules will be relaxed, employees are allowed to go back to work, and businesses can partially resume.
“Insofar as the police is concerned, this GCQ will be more challenging for us because it’s not yet back to normal. I mean, there will be more people, more vehicles out in the streets,” said Eleazar. “What we are saying is we cannot just inspect all vehicles passing through our checkpoints, especially in NCR.”
Eleazar said the PNP did not face a similar problem when some provinces were downgraded to GCQ starting May 1 because there were fewer vehicles and because the areas were less populated compared to Metro Manila.
Eleazar said the police will have to resort to random checking only, owing to the large number of people and vehicles that will be in the streets when GCQ is adopted in Metro Manila. “In reality, we cannot strictly enforce checkpoint operations especially in urbanized areas like Metro Manila. So what we’re going to do (under GCQ in Metro Manila) is random or staggered (checking only),” he said.
TOTAL LOCKDOWN
After the one-week total lockdown imposition at the Welfareville Compound in Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong City, which started last Thursday, Mayor Menchie Abalos said Barangay Mauway will be under a three-day total lockdown beginning today, Monday.
Barangay Mauway has 71 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 102 suspected cases and three deaths.
Abalos said residents will be subjected to rapid testing. Those who will test positive will be subjected to RT-PCR testing and housed in a government isolation facility to avoid infecting family members.
All quarantine passes are canceled while the total lockdown regulation is enforced. Residents can leave their homes only for emergency medical purposes.
All establishments including wet markets and sari-sari stores will be closed and unauthorized vehicles are forbidden to enter or leave the barangay.
Abalos said she has likewise asked business establishments to have their workers tested before they are allowed to return to work.
The government has already released the guidelines for malls and other establishments that will be allowed to partially reopen once Metro Manila’s status is downgraded to GCQ. — With Christian Oineza
