‘ILOILO CANNOT DO IT’: Local chief executives shun 2-week ECQ status

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. were both adamant in resisting the proposal to place their areas under the very restrictive Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) on Wednesday recommended to place both the city and province under ECQ from July 16 to 31, 2021.

Treñas told Daily Guardian Wednesday evening that he would appeal the ECQ recommendation, citing economic distress due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“The City of Iloilo will prepare an appeal right away. We cannot afford to close all businesses if we go under ECQ – people will be out of work and everyone will be in a most difficult situation,” the mayor said via text message.

In a phone interview, Defensor said that his strategy would be to “reconcile local and national data first before reaching their decision.”

And on Wednesday, it seems that both local chief executives found the appeal to stay under the Modified ECQ to be necessary.

If the IATF-MEID proceeds with its ECQ recommendation, this would be the first time since June 2020 that the city and province would return to an almost total lockdown which ultimately affected the lives of residents.

The latest report of the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD) on July 13, 2021 indicated lower risk classifications for both Iloilo City (Moderate) and Iloilo province (Low) based on its Community Quarantine Decision Framework (CQDF).

The CQDF rating is based on an area’s 2-Week Growth Rate (2WGR) or the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases in an area over 14 days, and the Average Daily Attack Rate (ADAR) or the number of cases in an area per 100,000 population over 14 days.

Based on the DOH-WV CHD data collated between June 30 to July 13, Iloilo City has a Low 2WGR (-1 percent) and a High ADAR (17.42), while Iloilo province also has a Low 2WGR (-17 percent) but with a Medium ADAR (5.90).

According to the CQDF, a cross between a Low 2WGR and High ADAR equates to Moderate Risk for COVID-19, while a Low 2WGR and a Medium ADAR would mean a Low Risk rating.

‘WE CAN’T HANDLE ECQ ANY LONGER’

Treñas detailed his appeal in an urgent letter, which was also published to the city government’s official Facebook page.

The mayor summarily outlined 10 reasons to justify the city’s retention under MECQ:

-The health care utilization rate of Iloilo City is affected by a confluence of factors that are not directly attributable to its capacity to augment health services;

-Iloilo City’s reinforced surveillance capacity and contact tracing efforts;

-Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities (TTMF) Utilization;

-There has been a downward movement of daily confirmed cases with a significant drop of 24.41 percent as compared to cases during the month of June;

-Aggressive inoculation of COVID-19 vaccines;

-Protocols set by the Iloilo City Government proved to be effective in lowering the number of confirmed cases;

-The Iloilo City COVID-19 Team conducts daily monitoring and decisively plans on the directives to address the COVID-19 situation of Iloilo City

-Effective management of close contacts, mass testing and swift isolation;

-Augmentation of manpower to hospitals and healthcare facilities; and

-Assistance from private sector and other medical organizations.

The letter was addressed to Defense Secretary and National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF COVID-19) chairperson Delfin Lorenzana, Presidential Peace Advisor and NTF COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III, and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.

Also attached to the city’s appeal were letters from the Iloilo Business Club, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iloilo Chapter, Iloilo MICE Alliance, Iloilo Hotel Restaurants and Resorts Association, supporting the city’s appeal.

The mayor also hosted a virtual meeting with the city’s COVID-19 Task Force and the local business sector on Wednesday to discuss the city’s COVID-19 situation and the appeal’s content.

The local government and business sectors both agreed that an appeal to retain the city’s MECQ status would be the best course of action.

Several members and representatives of the business sector also expressed their ongoing worries amid the MECQ.

Hotel manager Natalie Lim told the mayor that things were “very bad” not just for her hotel but also for other hotels and restaurants in the city.

“[Things with the hotels] are very bad. Our overhead [costs] are more than what we are making and I think I speak for all the hotels here, that we either closed or close to closed but even hotels and restaurants which are closed still have costs, so we are really losing a lot. We are just hoping for the final stretch of the year to make a little bit. Not breakeven, but at least to stay afloat,” said Lim.

Jennifer Fong, Vice President for Sales and Marketing of Megaworld Iloilo Business Park echoed similar sentiments, saying the focus should be on COVID-19 response measures instead of further restrictions which could hurt business.

“Business really is suffering right now, especially for the past months. We really have to balance economy and health. If we go back to ECQ, there wouldn’t be a lot of changes [from MECQ]. I think we need should focus more on enforcement. I think we need to define rules and regulations for enforcement and implementation of health protocols,” Fong said.

Treñas also called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Region 6 (DSWD-6) during the meeting to provide 150,000 food packs weekly if the city is placed under ECQ.

He said that if they factor in affected sectors in Iloilo province as well, DSWD-6 may need to shell out 600,000 food packs weekly.

“If we are going to be placed under ECQ, I will be asking for food packs from you, at least 150,000 food packs because we have a population of 500,000, and 10 percent of which will be needing food packs. We have been under MECQ for the past two months and the DSWD has only given us 2,500 food packs,” the mayor added.

DSWD-6 Assistant Regional Director for Operations Evangeline Felecio admitted that they do not have the capacity to provide Treñas’ request.

Felecio added that they will reach out to the DSWD national office to see if they can make it possible, and also assured the mayor that the regional office “has his back”.

“We see that region-wide, there is a need for food packs, but in terms of 150,000 per week, it would be difficult. We will have to evaluate our supplies. We can always only do augmentation to the resources of the city. It would be difficult for us to meet [150,000 food packs], but we always find ways to help Iloilo City,” Felecio said.

ECQ ‘NOT SUSTAINABLE’

Defensor confirmed to Daily Guardian that the provincial government’s Civil Defense Cluster has resolved to appeal the province’s looming ECQ status based on data from the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO).

Based on the IPHO’s own CQ Decision Matrix (which is similar to the DOH-WV CHD’s CQDF) as of July 13, 2021, the province has a Medium 2WGR (4.77 percent) and High ADAR (7.58), which translate to the province on High Risk or MECQ status.

Prior to deciding on an appeal, the governor met with regional and provincial officials to look at their data which he said ultimately formed their basis, adding that an ECQ declaration was “not compatible” to their data and it was “not sustainable” to the province’s economy.

“ECQ is not compatible at this point that we have been under community quarantine for 1 year and 4 months. It is not compatible to the socio-economic condition of the province. Community quarantine being a short-term measure, it is no longer sustainable to impose ECQ together with its accompanying quarantine measures,” Defensor said in a phone interview.

He added that officials from the DOH-WV CHD and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-6 agreed with their plan to appeal to remain under MECQ.