President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Thursday, past 8pm, that the National Capital Region or Metro Manila will be placed under ‘community quarantine’ from March 15 to April 14, or 48 hours from his announcement.
The announcement puts the 12 million population of Metro Manila under ‘lockdown,’ while the movement of 3 million workers who go to work in Metro Manila daily but residing in nearby provinces will be restrained.
The order is in response to the spread of COVID-19 locally, the current 52 positive cases and 5 deaths tallied. The local transmission of COVID-19, the disease brought by the SARS CoV-2 or novel coronavirus, deemed to have started when a patient with no travel history tested positive on March 5 and his spouse tested positive on March 7 due to exposure to him. Three more deaths on March 11 were announced to the public by the Department of Health only on March 12, around the same time as Duterte’s lockdown announcement.
The month-long ‘community quarantine’ or ‘stringent social distancing’, government preferred terms for ‘lockdown,’ would mean that land, air and sea transport in and out of Metro Manila is suspended for month. Other terms of the order included:
- Classes will also be suspended until April 12.
- Mass gatherings, specifically mention rallies or events in the announcement, are also prohibited.
- Work in the executive branch is suspended, while a skeletal work force will be maintained. Congress and judiciary are recommended to adopt the same policies.
- Flexible work is encouraged in the private sector.
Law enforcement agencies, such as police and military, health and emergency frontline services shall continue in full operation.
Those who will continue operations provided that ‘strict social distancing measures are observed’ are:
- All manufacturing, retail and service establishments
- Mass public transports, such as the Light Rail Transits (LRT 1 and 2), Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Philippine National Railway (PNR)
Guidelines to ‘strict social distancing’ or how it will be observed have yet to be made known.
Travel outside the country will be permitted and those who will travel to countries with local transmissions of COVID-19 will be informed of the risks. Travel ban to China except in Hubei province is lifted. Entry restrictions will be implemented on travel from countries with local transmissions of COVID-19, except to Filipinos and their foreign spouse, holders of permanent resident visas and diplomats.
According to the president and his spokesperson Salvador Panelo, all the aforementioned measures shall be subject to daily monitoring and reassessment by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
The Philippine National Police (PNP) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will implement the lockdown. How it will be enforced still needed to be clarified or laid down in an executive order or memorandum circular. Duterte said that those who refuse to enforce the temporary restrictions would be arrested and jailed.
Lockdown rumors have been circulating on social media in the early afternoon since a PNP conference notice for March 12, 1pm meeting with the agenda ‘lockdown in certain areas in NCR relative to COVID-19. Said meeting was thes IATF studying recommending ‘lockdown’ to the president’ made rounds online.
After a few hours, another document, the purported lockdown resolution to be recommended to Duterte, circulated online before 5pm. Around that time, there were reports of Duterte addressing the nation on the COVID-19 local transmission at 6pm.
Netizens referred to this document as the ‘script’ for Duterte’s announcement. Duterte finally went on air past 8pm and the main contents of the resolution were found to consistent with his announcement. Some netizens commented about the announcement, ‘Duterte reading out what all of us read earlier.’
Circulation of said documents also prompted people to go on ‘panic buying’ and hoarding in various groceries and supermarkets in the metro.
Post-announcement digest
Social media was again abuzz after the much-anticipated announcement. Many found the announcement vague. Other thought the lockdown an overreaction or premature. Common questions included the fate of Metro Manila workers residing outside the capital region.
Other questions included why the PNP and DILG are implementing the lockdown and whether there will be checkpoints on all major roads in Metro Manila – as another message that circulated listed roads, communities, ports and terminals where different law enforcement agencies will be assigned. Some also asked whether the police or those stationed at the checkpoint will be conducting checking of body temperature or the DOH triage or other medical checkups to ensure the virus is not taken in and out of the metro, instead of just asking for IDs because the latter would make it feel more like martial law than a ‘health’ lockdown.
There are also questions as to how the government came up with the ‘lockdown,’ what percentage or rate of transmission is expected with or without a lockdown and how to make sure that people within the metro will be more vulnerable to contract the disease now that the government has resorted to a lockdown.
Questions regarding ‘community quarantine’ (two cases confirmed in the level of barangay, city or municipality will place the barangay, city or municipality under quarantine) abound, such as will people in barangay quarantine be required to stay indoors or be prevented from leaving their homes, or will city to city travel be restricted in case of city quarantine, etc.
Radio interviews with police officials immediately following Duterte’s announcement clarified some of the concerns. PNP Directorate for Police Community Relations said the police and DILG, as implementers of the order, will be tasked to look after the health of the people. DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said that Metro Manila workers who live in the nearby provinces would be allowed entry provided they can show proof that they work in Metro Manila. Deliveries and cargo will also be allowed. Año’s statement on the lockdown exceptions would also be exceptions to the general rule of ‘community quarantine’ and would still need more clarifications.
Youth groups National Union of Students of the Philippines Metro Manila and Kabataan Partylist Metro Manila called for mass testing instead of a lockdown order which they identified as a military solution to a public health concern.
“Isang maaaring immediate na solusyon na napatunayang epektibo na rin sa ibang bansa ang mass testing, sa halip na lockdown. Sa 52 kaso ng COVID-19 sa bansa ay nakaumang lockdown sa NCR na may 12-15 milyon na populasyon. Samantalang hindi pa rin mahusay na naipapaalam ng gobyerno sa mamamayan ang mga solusyon nila sa COVID-19 bukod sa lockdown,” said NUSP Metro Manila in its statement.
[One immediate solution that has been proven effective in other countries is conducting mass testing, instead of a lockdown. For the 52 positive cases in the country, the 12-15 million population in NCR will be placed under lockdown. This despite that the government has not properly informed the people of their solutions to COVID-19 spread aside from the lockdown.]
Araw-araw nakaasa pa sa pananalig na hindi magkaroon ng anumang sintomas ng COVID-19 sa pagkondukta nila sa araw-araw na buhay. Hindi pa rin nakalatag ang mga solusyon ng gobyerno bukod sa ‘containment’ sa pamamagitan ng lockdown. Dapat na pangunahing gawin ay solusyong medikal, hindi batas militar ang maging tugon ng gobyerno,” said Kabataan Partylist Metro Manila in a statement.
[Everyday we depend on faith that we don’t contract any symptoms of COVID-19 in the conduct of our daily lives. The government has not laid down the solutions aside from ‘containment’ via lockdown. The primary solution should be a medical solution, not a military rule as response of the government.]
