Extending ECQ beyond April 30 – 2

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

Still on the UP proposal cited yesterday, it said “our best recourse after April 30 is to implement graduated activation of ECQ depending on the level of risk in certain areas at a given time. Under this setup, provinces (or even lower-level LGUs) may be put under ECQ depending on how close or far they are to an estimated outbreak threshold.”

How close is Occidental Negros to the threshold which is Cebu and Manila? Unfortunately, yesterday morning I was informed that a resident of La Castellana had been infected. We will discuss this tomorrow with new developments. In the meantime, let’s continue with yesterday’s subject.

We are far from the “threshold” but it seems that the system of “repatriation” of residents have not been very strict as to allow the “leakage” outside the door.

A leader of the House of Representatives familiar with the discussions in the economic cluster told the Philippine Inquirer that former NEDA Secretary General Ernesto Pernia appeared to agree with the position of business leader Joey Concepcion, the presidential adviser on entrepreneurship, on easing the lockdown after the ECQ ends on April 30.

Concepcion has been pushing for “selective quarantine” so that goods and services would flow unimpeded.

“Our suggestion is to shift from Luzon-wide lockdown to selective quarantine at the barangay level under their respective mayors’ oversight with clear rules and guidelines,” Concepcion said earlier. He believed this scheme “would allow free movement of the supply chain with no need for security checkpoints and truck passes, while security would be the barangays’ responsibility.”

“A selective quarantine at the barangay level after the extended lockdown ends on April 30 is the most sustainable approach to containing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19),” Concepcion said. He added that “barangays, which still have overwhelming infection rates, (must) undergo another extension to ensure the containment of COVID-19.” Sounds reasonable and readily implementable.

This system, he explained, will serves as an incentive for the mayors, barangay captains, and the residents to keep their barangays safe, with no new cases. Let us not penalize the barangays that are infection-free and have [them] follow… the President’s orders to stay home for six weeks.

This strategy, he explained, if implemented successfully, will help reinstate public confidence and revive the economy. That is what everybody is asking – reviving the economy by releasing the national energy to restart what was so suddenly terminated.

Then, “key industries can resume operations and the essential workforce can return safely to work.”

On the other hand, “the barangay quarantine can be used continuously until a cure is found” and “the mayor and barangay captains are empowered to implement an extended lockdown in their respective communities, especially if the rate of infection in their area is high.”

“When we say barangay quarantine, you don’t start by locking down a certain city, you start by considering quarantines for barangays that have high infection rates. The police can focus on the infected areas, and the public and private sectors can proceed with the testing of barangay residents to measure the level of risk within the community.”

That is a reasonable approach – one does not burn the entire house to kill a cockroach.

Of course, the ultimate decision belongs to the President and if we read his closest buddy, Senator Bong Go, chances of easing the ECQs are slim. The President has the facts with him more than any other and I believe he is the last man to continue with the quarantine beyond the reasonable doubt. But the economy is bleeding.

What we are raising is the ECQ issue on isolated provinces where the virus has already said goodbye although it seems Covid left something in Negros it came back, hopefully only to recover left luggage.

As Pernia said “it would ultimately be up to Mr. Duterte to decide whether to extend the quarantine. The local governments will take the cue from him although local governments had been given the options when to lift the ECQ and yet ensure that any relapse will be contained quickly. Surely the LGUs had learned enough.

What will he do now as a private citizen? Pernia said he needed “a long enough” break to finish a book.  With a long enough break, I also am about to finish with Bacolod’s history, forced to do so by Covid.