Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla early morning pre-empted the Palace announcement and announced that the Cavite province will be placed under general community quarantine on May 16.
Remulla claimed that his announcement came from Malacañang. He made the announcement on Facebook at around 3:55 a.m., almost four hours before President Rodrigo Duterte’s nation address was scheduled to be televised.
In his announcement he dubbed “GCQ ep. 1,” Remulla said that the details he mentioned are not yet complete and are subject to change.
He also said Laguna and Metro Manila will remain under enhanced community quarantine.
Under the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases released last April 24, moderate-risk and low-risk areas of spreading COVID-19 fall under GCQ while high-risk areas will be under ECQ until May 15.
“If there is no deterioration, GCQ will be relaxed leading to normalization starting May 16,” the Office of the President’s release read.
READ: Confused between general and enhanced community quarantine? Here’s the difference
For GCQ, Remulla said the provincial government will slowly reopen the economy and allow the following:
- Ang mga mall ay limited na tindahan at mahina na aircon ang gagana (wala muna free WiFi)
- Ang mga restaurant ay take-out service ay papayagan na.
- Ang mga pagawaan ay dahan dahan mag bubukas.
- Ang construction industry ay magbubukas na rin.
The government also said the local officials would look into the liquor ban still in effect.
“Ngunit, pero hinde pangako, ay mag uusap ang mga mayor mamaya para sa panandalian patakaran para dito habang hinde pa umapekto ang batas,” he said.
Remulla said the Cavite residents will still not be allowed to go out without face mask and quarantine pass except for those who are working, curfew will still be imposed for everyone from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for those with valid work permit and bars or establishments that allow drinking session are still not allowed to operate.
He advised that the IATF, Department of Transportation or the the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board still hasn’t released guidelines on mass transportation.
“Alam ko na marami pa kayong katanungan. Hintayin po natin na makagawa ng hakbang ang ating gobyerno bago umangal.
Huwag muna mag-galak. Bagamat gumanda at umangat ang kakayahan natin, ang 2nd wave ng Covid ay SIGURADONG DARATING. Ipatupad pa rin Ang social distancing at good hygiene practices,” Remulla wrote.
Because of Remulla’s announcement, Cavite and Laguna made it to the top trending topics in the Philippines with more than 3,800 and 8,200 tweets, respectively.
Gov. Jonvic Remulla preempts IATF, says Cavite will be placed under GCQ starting May 16, as per Malacañang.
Laguna and NCR remain under ECQ.
This is not from the IATF so this is not final & official. Duterte to address the nation later at 8am. pic.twitter.com/HwWuyDPVvT
— DearRobert (@DearRobert) May 11, 2020
No word from Palace
Remulla’s announcement came hours after presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the IATF began meeting at 8:30 p.m. of Monday.
Roque earlier said Duterte would announce his decision on Monday evening.
“Can’t say. Preliminarily, we agreed to broadcast tomorrow. Could change depending on when we actually finish,” the presidential spokesman said.
The Palace later on announced that Duterte’s address will air at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
However, when Duterte’s nation address was aired, he failed to announce decision post-May 15.
Majority of the areas in the Philippines have been placed under ECQ since April 24. Prior to that, ECQ was imposed over the entire Luzon since March 17.
ECQ was initially scheduled to end on the midnight of April 13. However, Duterte extended it until April 30 to create window for ramp-up COVID-19 testing and give government agencies more time to reach out to Filipinos affected by the lockdown.
Last April 24, the national government extended this directive anew up to May 15.
Instead of delivering the announcement, Duterte, just said some may be allowed to move and work while others will remain in lockdown.
Roque is expected to deliver new guidelines on the community quarantine on Tuesday noon.
