Año says most Metro Manila mayors want to retain GCQ

September 25, 2020

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday said most Metro Manila mayors are still in favor of extending general community quarantine (GCQ).

In an interview with reporters in Taguig City, Año said the Inter-Agency Task Force is scheduled to meet the Metro Manila Council on September 27 to discuss the community quarantine status of the National Capital Region (NCR).

"What can I say is there are still a lot of mayors in NCR that want (their area) to remain under GCQ,” he said.

“We will listen to their recommendation and we will compare it to the data analytics then we will create a recommendation to the President (Rodrigo Duterte),” the secretary said.

Año said the main concern of the NCR mayors is the safety of their constituents.

Based on the data from the Department of Health (DOH), most of the daily COVID-19 cases in the country were recorded in Metro Manila.

“It is hard to just ease the quarantine restrictions then after( that) we will regret the decision. We have two options, stricter MGCQ (modified general community quarantine) or GCQ,” said Año.

Last August, Duterte again placed Metro Manila and a few other areas in the country under general community quarantine while Iligan City was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine for September. Ella Dionsio/DMS