Garcia, RIATF contemplating ways to ‘do justice’ Talisay’s reversal to MECQ

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and the regional Interagency Task Force (RIATF) are considering steps to clarify the national Interagency Task Force’s decision to revert the status of Talisay City from General Community Quarantine (GCQ) to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ).

Garcia, who met with Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas on Tuesday noon, June 16, 2020, said she had learned about the possible “erroneous” data on the city’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) recovery rate that may have caused the city to be reverted to MECQ from its general community quarantine status.

The governor was referring to the data of the Department of Health, which National Task Force Special Advisor Dr. Tony Leachon posted on his Facebook page, reflecting zero recovery for the city.

Gullas, in a separate interview, corrected the said data and said that the city already has 43 recoveries, which effectively brought down the total active cases in the city to 59.

READ: Gullas to DOH: ‘Talisay has 43 recoveries, not zero’

“In that post, he claimed that Talisay City had zero recoveries. Ingon si Mayor Samsam, where did they get their data when in fact, Talisay City had already 43 recoveries?” Garcia said during her press conference this evening.

CDN Digital has tried to reach out to the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) for an explanation of the discrepancy in the tallied recoveries. However, the agency has not issued a response as of this posting.

In his Facebook post, Leachon said on Tuesday morning, hours after the quarantine statuses were announced, that it may be prudent to place Talisay City under MECQ due to contiguity or the geographical location of the city which borders with Cebu City, which is considered as the “epicenter” of the infection here, and the “high growth rate” of the COVID-19 infection in Talisay City.

Garcia said she already discussed the concern on Talisay City with Regional Director Leocadio Trovela of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG-7) and DOH-7 Director Dr. Jaime Bernadas, who co-chair the RIATF. Garcia said they are thinking of steps to do justice for Talisay City, which has now a higher quarantine status than the province itself.

On Wednesday, June 17, Garcia is set to meet with mayors of the 44 towns and six component cities to discuss border control measures for those coming from Cebu City since the latter is now under ECQ.

Read: It’s back to ECQ for Cebu City

Garcia said they may also discuss the case of Talisay City and the actions that the province may take during the meeting. /bmjo