Iloilo City and Province will no longer under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) or General Community Quarantine (GCQ) starting May 16, 2020.
This was announced by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a televised press conference noontime of Tuesday, as per the recommendation of Inter-Agency Taskforce Resolution No. 35.
According to the IATF resolution, the provinces, cities, and highly urbanized cities in the whole of Western Visayas are now low-risk for the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and shall no longer be under a community quarantine.
IATF said that minimum health standards will be implemented in these low-risk areas, and containment preparation will include the following: Empower community and enforce minimum health standards for low risk; invest to meet health system capacity targets.
Mayor Jerry P. Treñas was very happy with the decision of the national government, considering that the city still recorded new cases of COVID-19 in Arevalo.
“It’s not really the number of cases. It is really the ability of LGU (local government unit) to respond to issues like the one happened in Sto. Niño Sur (Arevalo),” Treñas said. “I can say that we really did good in our response there.”
“We will be ready, as we have been preparing for this. We will make sure that infection will not spread in the city,” Treñas added.
Treñas said that he is waiting for the ordinance from the City Council on social distancing which will be helpful once the metropolis reopens for businesses.
He will also issue an executive order to set the guidelines to be followed in the ‘new normal’ in Iloilo City. This will include the lifting of liquor ban, modification of curfew hours and other limitatons.
