Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes is appealing to the IATF to let Mandaue City remain under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) and not place it under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). | Mary Rose Sagarino
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines- — The Mandaue City government has yet to recieve a feedback from the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) on the city’s appeal to remain under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) status.
Cortes said although they were hoping that the IATF would consider their appeal, the city was also already preparing for the possibility that the city would be placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
The IATF recommended to place Mandaue City and the entire Cebu Island under MECQ starting August 1 until August 15.
Cortes said they were already preparing for a change of policies.
Cortes said as their would be no public transportaion allowed under MECQ, the city would be using the city’s buses that were used when the city was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) before, to ferry health workers and Authorized Persons Outside of Residence (APORs).
The mayor said that the vacination would still continue and that residents would just need to show their schedules through a text message from the Vaccine Operations Center.
He said they were contemplating negotiating with private companies to offer free rooms for health workers.
Cortes said if MECQ would be implemented there would be many workers who would lose their jobs.
He said he would meet with the finance committee if the city still had enough funds to distribute safety kits or food packs to affected individuals.
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