Año eyes sending more cops to Cebu City as it reverts to ECQ

June 16, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año is eyeing to send more cops in Cebu City after President Rodrigo Duterte decided to place it back under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to make sure people are following the health protocols.

During their IATF-EID (Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases) meeting last night, Año said they focused on Cebu City due to the spike in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases (COVID-19) there.

“I’m also thinking of deploying additional cops in Cebu City to make sure that ECQ is properly implemented,” he said.

Cebu City was placed under ECQ again while Talisay City will be under modified ECQ until June 30.

Another reason for placing Cebu City under ECO is the widespread community transmission in the majority of barangays in the city, as well as consistent case doubling time of less than seven days and significant increase in critical care utilization against critical care capacity in hospitals.

According to Cebu City Health Department, as of June 15, they recorded 3, 629 cases where 1,716 are still active cases while 1, 874 recovered and 39 died.

Meanwhile, Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas, they have recorded 118 COVID-19 cases where 59 remained active cases, 43 recoveries and 16 deaths.

Gullas apologized to his constituents over the IATF decision but he said he will never question their decision and National Action Plan (NAP) against COVID-19 Chief Implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr, even told him that he has an option to appeal over the decision.

“To put things into perspective, we have a lesser number of COVID positive cases than other areas that remained in GCQ,” he said in a Facebook post.

“I will consult with the Talisay City government, (Cebu) Governor Gwen (Garcia) and other leaders on what best plan to take after this,” he added.

Gullas said he was surprised but believed that the 16 reported deaths played a big role in task force's decision. Ella Dionisio/DMS