“We don’t want to use [the term lockdown]…but it’s a lockdown.” Rodrigo Duterte said that on March 12, 2020, when he first put Metro Manila under community quarantine. Four days later, on Monday, March 16, the Philippine president widened it to the whole of Luzon, the country’s largest island, VERA Files reported.
Duterte made the announcement in a nationwide broadcast. Luzon had a population of 53 million as of 2015, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. The move came on the second day of what VERA Files called a virtual lockdown of Metro Manila.
What changed on March 16
The new order did more than stretch the map. Duterte temporarily suspended work in public and private offices and sent more soldiers and police to enforce home quarantine and social distancing. New guidelines issued that day “enhanced” the quarantine with stricter enforcement of social distancing, aimed at compelling people to stay in their homes.
The guidelines covered a month-long suspension of classes at all levels, a pause in non-essential work, and the suspension of public and mass transport. Owners of shopping malls in Metro Manila had already announced temporary closures as of March 15, with exceptions for supermarkets, drug stores, banks and convenience stores.
The planned curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. fell away. IATF spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said at a March 16 press conference that it was superseded by the new rules. “So superseded na iyong mga (This supersedes the) curfews that were being imposed by the LGUs because ang (the) general rule is `stay at home’,” he said. Local governments outside Luzon were advised to adopt their own community quarantine guidelines.
The numbers and the road here
On March 12 the president raised the COVID-19 alert to the highest level, Code Red sub-level 2, on the recommendation of the Inter-agency Task Force. Under Department of Health guidelines, that level means sustained community transmission beyond the government’s capacity to handle. Before that, the first local transmission had led Duterte to issue Proclamation No. 922, declaring a state of public emergency across the country.
As of March 17, the Department of Health reported 14 deaths and 187 confirmed cases. That was two more deaths and 45 more positive cases than the day before. Those who tested positive included the actor Christopher De Leon and a director at the Department of Health central office. Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who announced his own result a day earlier, was the highest government official known to be infected.
The guidelines remained subject to daily review by the IATF.
