President Duterte is studying a proposal to place the entire country under the least restrictive quarantine level by March to further reopen the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Palace said Tuesday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the President would take up the suggestion with his Cabinet on Feb. 22.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua has earlier asked the President to consider and approve the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) recommendation to place the entire country under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) starting March 1, to balance the opening of the economy and the control of the coronavirus.
“This is only a recommendation. The President is carefully studying this recommendation,” Roque said.
He said localized lockdowns could instead be implemented at the village or municipal level to curb any spread of the illness.
Among the NEDA recommendations are relaxing of the age restrictions of people allowed to go out of homes, expansion of public transportation operations, and conduct of pilot face-to-face classes in areas with low risk of coronavirus infection.
Such recommendations have already been approved by the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF), composed of several Cabinet members.
But University of the Philippines researchers who have been tracking the pandemic urged the government to speed up its vaccination drive instead of easing quarantine restrictions nationwide.
“If we suddenly open up, there's a risk that cases will increase as we have not yet completed bio-surveillance, we don't know yet… how many COVID-19 variants are here,” said Guido David of the OCTA Research Group.
David also expressed concern over Chua's proposal to expand the capacity of public transportation and to gradually allow people between the ages of 5 and 7 outside their homes.
“It's surprising. They can't even follow health protocols yet,” he said.
He added that those below 16 years old are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine, which might make them carriers or super-spreaders.
“That's a huge factor because if they can't be vaccinated, the new variant is said to be more contagious among the youth. The problem is they might be carriers,” he said.
Metro Manila mayors earlier said they want the national government to consult local chief executives before easing restrictions such as the reopening of cinema.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Tuesday said there was nothing wrong about the NEDA recommendation but said the IATF should give more weight to the opinion of health experts.
“More importantly, IATF should properly plan and implement nationwide vaccination. That would surely enable the opening up of our economy with full confidence,” he said.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, on the other hand, supported NEDA’s proposal as long as the usual health protocols like wearing masks and social distancing are strictly observed.
“Malls and schools must be extra vigilant to avoid being super-spreaders of the virus,” he added.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III also supported easing restrictions, saying that the face mask and face shield combination observed in the country reduces the risk of infection by as much as 95 percent.
With mask and shield requirements, Pimentel said “we should feel confident about resuming our lives.”
However, since COVID-19 is a “disease of crowds,” he said all regulations must never encourage the gathering of crowds.
Senator Nancy Binay said the country cannot be locked down forever, and that children cannot be in their houses forever.
“Let us accept that this is the new normal. We've already heard first-hand feedback from parents and teachers that online and modular learnings are not for everyone,” she said.
“Perhaps we should balance the face-to-face learning while addressing the COVID problem,” she added.
She said she supported the Department of Education suggestion to conduct a dry run of face-to-face classes in select schools in areas where there is a low risk of COVID-19, as long as health protocols are observed.
“What's ironic, we are allowing our children to go out, go on vacation and go to malls which are high-risk environments instead of going to schools, which have a controlled setup,” she said.