President Rodrigo Duterte said on late Monday night that the government is inclined to extend the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, including Metro Manila, until the end of April to further prevent the spread of coronavirus disease.

"We are inclined to extend the lockdown up to April 30. Let's see after that," Duterte said in a taped televised Talk to the Nation.

The ECQ is supposed to end on midnight of April 13.

But some quarters, including lawmakers and businessmen, have urged Duterte to extend further the lockdown.

Most of the COVID-19 cases are in Metro Manila.

In the same public message, Duterte said the government has programmed P270 billion for two months to assist the poorest Filipinos affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

The initial P100 billion has been downloaded to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which is implementing the Social Amelioration Program to assist the 18 million poor families.

Duterte, however, acknowledged that the P270 billion is not enough especially if the crisis would be prolonged.

"The P100 billion for one month or P270 billion for two months, that's what has been programmed as earlier estimated is not enough," he said.

He asked Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III to generate more funds.

Duterte said the government is also looking into possibility of not pursuing other projects so that funds could be realigned in the government's COVID-19 response.

"We are exploring options to adjust our budget...in the earlier budget, COVID was not yet factored in. I said we should cut other (projects) or totally drop the project. Let's prioritize the people, their stomach. Because once they become hungry, a human being can be violent, especially once he sees his children are not eating anymore," he explained.

As of Monday afternoon, the Department of Health reported that COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 3,660, with 163 deaths and 73 recoveries. Celerina Monte/DMS