Coronavirus: Duterte’s lockdown of Manila is ‘a mockery’, as millions of commuters to be allowed in
- So many exemptions have been made to the ‘total’ ban on land, sea and air travel to the Philippine capital that the move no longer makes sense, expert says
- Commuters, business owners and government officials are among those who may be given a waiver
Commuters living outside Manila who could prove they worked in the capital would be among those exempt from the ban, the interior and local government secretary Eduardo Año told radio DZMM late on Thursday evening, in a move that appeared to clear the way for more than two million people to travel in and out of the capital on a daily basis.
“Business owners” would also be allowed in, said Año, following lobbying by the trade secretary Ramon Lopez and the finance secretary Carlos Dominguez.
And the exemptions didn’t stop there.
In a press conference on Friday morning, Lopez and the cabinet secretary Karlo Nograles said some government officials would also be granted a waiver, with all exemptions to be listed in a soon-to-be released “memo”.
The measure would be “half-baked” and “defeat the purpose of a lockdown”, said Dr Anthony Leachon, a former president of the Philippine College of Physicians. He said that for any lockdown to be successful it needed to be “all or nothing”.
“Truly, it’s a mockery of community quarantine concept,” said Leachon.