ADVERTISEMENT
NEDA: Proposal to place entire Philippines under MGCQ aimed at reducing hunger
By TED CORDERO,GMA NewsThe proposal to place the entire Philippines under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the loosest quarantine classification, is seen to reduce hunger in areas still under stringent lockdowns, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Tuesday.
“We have to balance COVID and hunger concerns,” Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Karl Kendrick Chua told GMA News Online.
On Monday, Chua urged placing the whole country under MGCQ
, a proposal given the nod by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases. The agency is also submitting the proposal to President Rodrigo Duterte for his approval.Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Batangas, Tacloban City, Davao City, Davao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Iligan City are under GCQ for the whole February, while the rest of the country is under MGCQ.
Chua reiterated that a shift to MGCQ is needed to address the rising hunger rate due to the COVID-19 crisis.
“NCR (National Capital Region) hunger rate is almost 25%,” he said.
“When areas outside NCR moved from GCQ to MGCQ, their hunger rate fell by more than half,” Chua said.
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora and Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro opposed the NEDA’s proposal, urging the government to consider health experts' advice on the matter.
Metro Manila's mayors are also against the government's proposal to reopen cinemas, even at 50-percent capacity, in the NCR.
Health workers, meanwhile, urged the public to practice heightened vigilance against the coronavirus
ADVERTISEMENT
Apart from placing the whole country under MGCQ, the NEDA is also proposing the following:
- increasing the capacity allowed in public transport from 50 percent to 75 percent;
- complementing public transport with active transport via bike lanes;
- allowing more provincial buses to operate;
- expanding the age groups allowed to leave their homes from 15 to 65, to five to 70; and
- resuming the pilot-testing of face-to-face classes.
The Philippine economy contracted by 9.5% in 2020, its worst on record since the end of World War II, due to quarantine restrictions to contain COVID-19’s spread that brought economic activities to a standstill.
The NEDA has earlier admitted that the country will continue to see a negative gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2021 since the economic centers such Metro Manila are still under GCQ, wherein several businesses are still closed or operating at a reduced capacity.
With still no vaccines arriving in the country, the Philippines on Tuesday recorded 552,246 confirmed cases of the disease, including 11,524 deaths. Also on Tuesday, the Department of Health noted an uptick in COVID-19 infections in eight Metro Manila cities even though the capital region logged a negative case growth rate in the past two weeks. — BM, GMA News