New curfew hours, stricter borders in NCR during ECQ: Abalos

MMDA Chair Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. (Photo courtesy of Philippine News Agency)

MANILA — There will be longer curfew hours and stricter border control across the National Capital Region (NCR) for the duration of the coming enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) according to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr.

During a web presser hosted by Malacañang on Monday, Abalos said Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año has already set up checkpoints outside NCR, with plans to activate checkpoints within the region during the ECQ period — from August 6 to 20, 2021.

“He’s now imposing certain controls outside of Metro. Pero pagdating po ng ika-sais ng ECQ, ito pong border controls natin ay within NCR na po (But on the sixth, our border controls will be within NCR),” Abalos said.

He said the Metro Manila Council (MMC) — composed of the 17 mayors in NCR — have unanimously agreed to extend curfew hours in the region for the same period, now from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m — two hours longer than the previous curfew of 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

He noted that while the curfew hours will be uniform across the region, each local government unit (LGU) will decide whether to ban liquor within their jurisdiction.

“May mga LGUs na nagsasabi na wala silang liquor ban kamuka ng Makati, Taguig, Pasig, at Las Pinas. At sa nakikita namin, ang Valenzuela, Mandaluyon, Paranaque, Pasay, Navotas, Pateros, Quezon City at San Juan may mga liquor ban (There are LGUs that decided against a liquor ban like Makati, Taguig, Pasig, and Las Piñas. And so far, Valenzuela, Mandaluyong, Parañaque, Pasay, Navotas, Pateros, Quezon City, and San Juan have banned alcoholic drinks),” Abalos said.

Quarantine pass

To ensure the public’s access to essential goods and continued service of health workers and other essential personnel, he said quarantine passes will again be issued to eligible persons by their respective LGUs.

“Yun pong quarantine pass, kung ano ang practice nung araw ng LGUs, yun na rin po muna ang gagawin namin ngayon, Kasi mabilisan po ito eh (For the quarantine pass, whatever was the practice in past by LGUs, that’s what we’re going to do now. Because we are going to move fast), we’re just talking of about five more days from now,” Abalos said.

He noted that for the coming two weeks, the LGUs will be issuing quarantine passes, giving out assistance from the social amelioration program, and accelerate the government’s vaccination program against Covid-19.

“Ang ginagawa namin ngayon nag-uusap kami about procedures, what we have implemented before during the last ECQ, try to refine it, i-improve namin po ito (What we’re doing now is we’re discussing procedures, what we have implemented during the last ECQ we’ll refine it, we will improve it),” Abalos said.

Depending on how many Covid-19 vaccine doses the national government is able to provide, he said LGUs are preparing to vaccinate as many as 250,000 individuals per day compared to the 110,000-daily average about two weeks ago.

Last week, Malacañang announced the imposition of an ECQ over NCR from August 6 to 20, 2021 based on the recommendation of the MMC and health experts. (END)