Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. is preparing an Executive Order on guidelines and procedures to be implemented after the lifting of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Iloilo province on May 1, 2020.
Defensor said there are a lot of considerations before proceeding to the transition period. First is the economic impact of the lockdown.
“We need to know its impact so we have the basis on what type of quarantine and containment procedures to implement after April 30,” he said.
Defensor is now consolidating the data on the number of distressed workers affected by the closure of businesses and other establishments. Another is the effect of the slowdown in the agriculture sector.
“On the other hand, we are gathering data on how much the national government, the province, and the municipalities spent. We will then compare this with the economic loss,” he said.
The governor is meeting the Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 on Wednesday as well as the municipal mayors on Thursday to further discuss the measures after the lockdown.
Furthermore, the provincial government will continue with the mandatory testing of suspected COVID-19 cases.
“In the meantime, we look at the trend of the cases and strengthen the contact tracing. That is the best way of understanding the behavior of the virus,” he said.LHC/Capitol news
