Cordillera health officials seek extension of ECQ

April 2, 2020

BAGUIO CITY  --  Public health officials in the Cordillera are supporting  the extension of the Luzon-wide Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), which is set to end on April 14, for at least a month more.

An extension of the lockdown will help break the chain of infection, the Department of Health -- Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR) and the Baguio City Health Services Office both said.

“It is better hopefully to observe up to a month, around May,” said Amelita Pangilinan, director of the DOH-CAR.

The number of cases is still peaking up, she added as more people are tested with the arrival of more test kits and the upgrade of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center as a COVID-19 testing center from a sub-regional station.

City health officer    Rowena Galpo said she also favors extending the ECQ, though it would be up to the top officials to decide.

''I just look at the implications if the lockdown will be eased. Maybe a lot of people will come here and that we cannot control,'' she said.

The Metro Baguio multisectoral group “Tongtongan ti Umili” urged city officials to “ensure the provision of sufficient and appropriate economic relief” before extending the ECQ.

 They are also calling for mass testing of health workers and frontline responders, PUIs and the most vulnerable sectors. 

 “While we are only seeing now the extent of the coronavirus pandemic and recognize the urgency to halt the transmission, we hope that before authorities enforce an extension of the lockdown, the economic and social needs of the people in the city be considered foremost,” Tongtongan secretary-general Jeoffrey Larua said.

Larua said majority of the city’s population cannot survive on meager dole outs and food aid. 

 “We still call for immediate and sufficient government assistance and relief to the vulnerable sectors of our population, especially now that we are foreseeing an extension of the lockdown,” he said. DMS