By Ella Dionisio

Metro Manila Council (MMC) chairman and Paranaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez on Friday said the 8pm to 4am curfew will remain in the National Capital Region despite restrictions lowered to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), effective Saturday.

"We will maintain our curfew. The 8pm to 4am curfew, it will stay the same instead of us having an adjustment," Olivarez said in a radio interview.

Last Thursday night, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force to lower National Capital Region from enhanced community quarantine to MECQ until the end of the month.

With the implementation of two week ECQ, Olivarez said the National Capital Region (NCR) has reached 50 percent population protection and the region's health care capacity is still manageable.

He also said quarantine passes are no longer required.

Olivarez said they let the IATF decide on the quarantine restrictions to balance the health and economy on the country.

"During the meeting of MMC and IATF, the health program and the situation of the country's economy was balanced because we saw people are already suffering," he said.

"With the downgrade to MECQ, we cannot sacrifice our procedure in containing and controlling the spread of Delta variant that's why we were given the authority to imposed granular lockdowns," he added.

Olivarez said no cash aid will be given in areas under MECQ but their ECQ aid distribution will continue.

He reminded the public to always follow the minimum health standards and to get vaccinated. DMS