Almost all members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) want to place Metro Manila under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) after June 15.

This was disclosed by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a virtual briefing on Friday.

However, Lorenzana said the decision if Metro Manila will be placed in a much relaxed type of community quarantine will depend on the data about the spread of COVID-19 infection by the Department of Health (DOH).

“There are a lot of factors that are being studied by the DOH because they have data on where the infection was recorded,” Lorenzana said.

“Personally I already wanted to place Metro Manila under MGCQ, but it will still depend on the recommendation of the task force on what will going to happen in Metro Manila although almost all of us already want to go to MGCQ. But it will still defend on the coming days, on the development of infection in Metro Manila,” he added.

Lorenzana said as of Friday the IATF does not have a proposal regarding possible changes on the community quarantine that will be imposed after June 15 but he noted that this will be announced during the IATF meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte next week.

“We do not yet have a proposal as of now, on Monday we will have IATF meeting with the president in Davao. The status of the areas will be announced there, especially in Metro Manila and Cebu because these are the areas where there are a lot of infections,” he said.

“The data on the number of fatalities, infected and recoveries comes from DOH. These are the most important things where the decision on... Metro Manila and Cebu will be based," he added. Robina Asido/DMS