Salceda: Total MGCQ viable if health workers vaccinated, transport restored

Albay Representative Joey Salceda on Wednesday said a nationwide enforcement of the modified general community quarantine is more feasible if all medical frontliners are vaccinated and if there is enough mode of public transport.

"The impact of the shift to MGCQ will not be as large as a quick vaccine rollout, because only NCR (National Capital Region) and a few provinces and cities are still in GCQ. The vaccination for our healthcare workers must go hand-in-hand with reopening, however," Salceda, co-chairperson of the Economic Stimulus and Recovery Cluster, said in a statement.

"It will ensure that we have the healthcare human resource needed to address any spike due to loosened restrictions,” Salceda added.

He also highlighted the importance of having public transportation because if MGCQ is implemented, around 573,000 workers will be required to already go back to their workplaces.

“We should restore public transport supply. Enough rides are the best way to ensure that there will be no overcrowding in our transport systems. Enough supply is the best way to keep rides safe, in a systems perspective,” Salceda said, noting that jeepney routes across the metro are not yet fully restored.

"I do not want a partial restoration while we already have MGCQ. We need to increase public transport at the same time we shift to MGCQ. Otherwise, we will be making life very difficult and unsafe for many workers,” Salceda added.

He said the economic impact of placing the entire country under MGCQ would depend on vaccination as well as consumer confidence. The lawmaker added that the Gross Domestic Product impact of the shift depends on how quickly public confidence can be restored due to vaccination.

"Workers don’t operate in isolation. Their wages come from customers, and that depends on consumer confidence that they will be safe. So, we always have to bear in mind that the economy was just a casualty," he said.

"This is a public health problem. The solution to the economic symptoms of this public health emergency will still be in public health,” he added.

With the aim to balance the country's response to curb the spread of COVID-19 and the need of Filipinos to start earning and spending, the National Economic and Development Authority has proposed to place the entire Philippines under MGCQ beginning March. 

This suggestion is awaiting the approval of President Rodrigo Duterte.

House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco supported the proposal, saying that it is already time to relax the restrictions due to the health crisis. —LBG, GMA News