Marinduque Gov. Presbitero Jose Velasco Jr. on Friday (Oct. 22) said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and experts have studied the alert level system which implementation has been expanded in other provinces.
The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) president said the new quarantine system which was initially implemented in Metro Manila is “okay,” but other provinces should have been given enough time to prepare.
“Alam po natin na hindi naman po sinakop lahat ‘yung mga LGUs, marami pong hindi kasama,” he said.
“Kung maisasama na rin po at maku-cover iyong mga ibang natitirang LGUs [local government units] ay bigyan din po nang sapat na panahon – palagay ko po mga pitong araw, supisiyenteng-supisiyente na po iyon,” he added.
Velasco said they are still gathering information on the effect of the policy shift, but mentioned that some governors are amenable to its implementation.
The national government decided earlier this week to expand the alert level system outside Metro Manila.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the LGUs included in the initial pilot implementation were consulted. This was supported by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), saying that there were no complaints raised.
“Since walang naging reklamo, noong Lunes ay nag-orient po kami doon sa mga probinsyang ‘yun — kung papaano ‘yung implementasyon ng alert level systems, so nagsimula nga po noong Tuesday,” DILG USec. Jonathan Malaya said.
“Pero noong natanggap po namin ‘yung request ni Governor Velasco na i-defer muna, kaagad-agad po ay nirespeto namin ito, at inagenda sa IATF,” he added.
Meanwhile, Velasco thanked the Department of Health (DOH) for vowing to increase the COVID-19 vaccine allocation to provinces. He added that LGUs have sufficient capability in terms of pushing through with pediatric vaccination and third dose administration. – Report from Patrick de Jesus/AG-rir
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