Metro Manila will again be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from August 6 to 20, 2021. ECQ is considered ‘total lockdown’ or the strictest lockdown. The Philippines, however, have been in a state of quarantine or varying degrees of lockdown since the COVID-19 lockdown was first implemented on March 2020.
The National Capital Region (NCR) along with four adjacent provinces Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, and Bulacan were on another ECQ and modified ECQ (MECQ) from March 27 up to May 13 this year. The area was called “NCR+ bubble” and placed under a strict General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and a GCQ with heightened restrictions before and after the 2nd total lockdown.
The many iterations of the lockdowns from the last year have made the public more confused, needing only to know how to practically deal with it—whether they can go out without quarantine passes or face shiels, will there be public transportation, emergency aid or food packs or will they fend for their own, can informal workers go out to work or earn a livelihood, etc.
The practical aspects of the many lockdown acronyms were what worried Filipinos the most.
Another total lockdown
While Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said it was a “painful decision” to put NCR in ECQ, netizens on the other hand emphasized on the actual “pains” that would be endured by many Filipinos amid impending lockdown in the month preceding the Christmas months in Filipino culture, the “-ber” months.
Roque noted that the decision was made in a bid to contain the highly transmissible nature of the Delta variant of the virus. From July 30 to August 5, Metro Manila shall remain under GCQ, though it was initially announced by President Rodrigo Duterte that the region will remain in GCQ until August 15.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), the said variant was first detected around December last year to January this year. The variant of concern first identified in India is said to have increased transmissibility and could have potential reduction in neutralization in antibody treatments and post-vaccination sera.
By July 31 this year, the Delta variant was confirmed to have 97 local transmissions by the Department of Health (DOH).
Going back to ECQ will lead to restricted mobility as only the Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APOR) – essential workers and household representatives for basic needs procurement– would be allowed to go out of their homes. Several essential establishments and industries, especially groceries and hospitals, shall remain fully operational.
Meanwhile, public transportation will operate in NCR through the lockdown, as per National Task Force Against COVID-19 spokesperson Restituto Padilla.
Adequate testing, tracing, treatment, and vaccination
Netizens once again urged the Duterte government for concrete solutions given the imposition of another ECQ in NCR, reiterating the need to conduct adequate mass testing, tracing, treatment and vaccination.
Should the enumerated medical solutions again not materialize to an adequate volume, netizens said that it would only make the ECQ futile, with citizens bearing the brunt of the lockdown and the pandemic.
No work, no pay
In this time of crisis, many workers are forced to ask a loan or cash advance from employers (or “bale” in the local tongue) or borrow from the neighborhood sari-sari store just to be able to put food on the table. During lockdown, not only the breadwinners will suffer, but also their families.
Meanwhile, the Duterte administration promised to distribute cash aid to poor families in Metro Manila during ECQ. The details of the cash aid distribution had to be disclosed.
Senator Grace Poe, in a video statement on July 26, said there had only been COVID-19 cash aid for two months despite the country being on lockdown for 16 months running.
Various sectors upped the demand for P10,000 cash aid for the poor and low-income majority of Filipino households amid the impending ECQ.
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