LGUs barred from declaring unilateral quarantine measures; must ask first IATF’s nod – DILG

April 24, 2020

Local government units could no longer unilaterally declare their own quarantine measures without the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año said on Friday.

This was after President Rodrigo Duterte gave his nod on the IATF recommendation to further extend the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Central Luzon and other "high-risk areas" in the country due to coronavirus disease pandemic.

"Now, a local chief executive can no longer place a province under the ECQ. It should be approved by the IATF," he said in a virtual press briefing in Malacañang.

He said that if LGUs would declare their own quarantine measures without the IATF's nod, the national government would not give them financial support, such as the Social Amelioration Program.

"And in giving support for SAP, the (LGU) cannot receive if it (quarantine declaration) is not sanctioned or allowed by the national government," the official said.

Other LGUs outside Luzon, such as those in Visayas and Mindanao, have been enforcing their own respective quarantine measures.

So far, only the Luzon-wide ECQ has the IATF's approval. It was supposed to end on April 30.

But in the latest IATF recommendation, which Duterte approved, ECQ has been further extended in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Central Luzon and other "high-risk areas," including those outside Luzon until May 15.

The other areas not under ECQ are placed under the general community quarantine where  some sectors are allowed to resume operation but  subject to certain precautions. Celerina Monte/DMS