NCR mayors discuss NEDA’s MGCQ proposal

The Metro Manila Council on Wednesday night held a meeting to discuss the proposal of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to place the entire country under a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

In connection with the proposal, Raffy Tima reported on “State of the Nation” that each sector has expressed a different opinion and wary of the consequences.

For the business sector, the loosening of quarantine measures is needed as soon as possible.

“Syempre, timpalahan mo ‘yan. Kung tumaaas ang infection, e 'di okay, dahan-dahan muna tayo. Pero tamang-tama, ‘yung vaccine dadating na nitong May, June, and onward, no?” Joey Concepcion, presidential adviser for entrepreneurship, said.

“So it’s worth looking and trying it out. ‘Wag natin hintayin ang huling-huli na hopeless na rin. ‘Yun kung talagang ‘yung economy natin sumadsad, then mas mahirap ibangon itong mga maliit na negosyante na naubos ang total na capital nila,” he added.

Meanwhile, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) also approved the proposal.

However, the LPP requested local governments to be allowed to shift back to stricter quarantine classifications, if needed.

“Bigyan po ng awtoridad ang LGU na bigla pong mag-lockdown o ibalik sa GCQ o ECQ kasi nga po iba-iba po ang mga sitwasyon sa teritoryo ng kani-kaniyang probinsya o city,” LPP President and Marinduque Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. said.

The LPP also said provincial buses and other public transportation vehicles should be allowed to operate as part of efforts to revive the economy.

Experts of the OCTA Research Team, meanwhile, have said that the government could be taking a costly risk if the entire Philippines would be placed under an MGCQ.

Based on their monitoring, the rate of transmission in NCR remains between 1 and 1.1.

“While it’s not worsening, it’s also not a very good reproduction number noh, to base noh, moving to a lower restriction level. Secondly, the fact that we still do not know the extent of spread as far as the new UK variant is concerned,” Assistant Professor Ranjit Singh Rye of the OCTA Research Team said.

“[T]his is a serious game-changing variant eh, It’s very contagious. We now know from the latest study, it’s also lethal,” he added.

Aside from this, Rye said that the COVID-19 vaccines for frontliners have yet to arrive.

“It’s a proposal but, alam mo ‘yun, hindi kaya eh. Kung March 30 siguro, baka puwede pa kasi we have a month to prepare. But a March 1 is just arbitrary, it’s premature and it’s risky,” he said. -- Joahna Lei Casilao/BAP, GMA News