A police officer manning a checkpoint at the boundary of Opol, Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro informs motorists that the city is now under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) effective Tuesday, June 1. (Jigger Jerusalem/davaotoday.com)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Effective June 1, the national government has put Cagayan de Oro under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) as the number of COVID-19 cases in the city continue to soar.
The national inter-agency task force (IATF), through Resolution 118-A, dated May 31, 2021, has reclassified the city’s quarantine status to MECQ, from its previous Modified General Community Quarantine level (MGCQ), the only area in Northern Mindanao to have been declared as such until June 15.
All the region’s provinces – Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental – have been placed under modified general community quarantine.
Iligan City, one of the chartered cities of the region, is on general community quarantine until June 30.
“The following provinces, [highly urbanized cities, independent chartered cities] shall be placed under MGCQ until 30 June 2021, without prejudice to their reclassification as may be warranted and the declaration of localized ECQ in critical areas,” read a part of the IATF resolution.
Under the MECQ, public transportation is prohibited and travel around the city is limited to buying of essential items such as food and medicines and authorized persons outside residence (APOR).
During his daily press briefing Monday afternoon, Mayor Oscar Moreno said he was not keen on putting the city on MECQ as his request was only for GCQ.
“I didn’t ask for it (MECQ), but I will not object to it,” he said, adding that the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has advised him he can lodge an objection to the quarantine reclassification.
“Even if I wanted to object, I hesitate to do so because our cases have been increasing,” Moreno said.
It can be recalled that Moreno wrote to the IATF last week asking it to put the city under GCQ.
Also, the region’s COVID-19 referral hospital, Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), has declared “code red” as it is now utilizing 50 percent of its facilities and services to COVID-19 cases.
“We have to show results, if we are unable to show results, it is possible that IATF will impose higher quarantine level on their own, they can do that if they want to,” Moreno said in a recent press briefing.
Moreno said that if national IATF sees that GCQ is not enough, they can raise the quarantine level to MECQ.
“They are entitled to that. The IATF has the power to do that,” Moreno said.
“Your cooperation is sought, my brethren, we want that (quarantine level) not heavy, because if they bring us to MECQ, that is very heavy,” Moreno said.
As of June 1, 2021, Cagayan de Oro has now 1,272 actives cases, with 315 admitted and 957 confined at the temporary treatment and monitoring facility.
The city also recorded 5,615 recoveries with 328 deaths. The cumulative cases as of March 2020 is 7,215.
