NOT yet.
This, in a nutshell, was the decision rendered by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno on the idea of allowing minors outside of residence in the middle of a general community quarantine (GCQ), saying the city government will still have to conduct a thorough study on it.
In his message at yesterday’s regular flag-raising ceremony in Manila City Hall, Moreno noted that based on local government records, a huge part of the statistics of the infections are from the youngsters.
“Dahil tayo ay nasa GCQ pa, aaralin muna natin kung pwede na sila magpagala-gala. Batay sa ating datos, malaking bahagi ng impeksyon ay nasa kabataan. ‘Wag nating balewalain ang sakripisyo natin nitong nakaraang sampung buwan,” Moreno said.
Also yesterday, the mayor inducted into office the officers and members of various youth groups representing the six districts of Manila. He called on them, particularly the Manila Youth Development Council, to disseminate among the youth the importance of fully cooperating with efforts to contain COVID-19, if not totally eliminate it.
The mayor said the vaccines against the coronavirus 2019 will be coming in a few months’ time and all that is needed is a little more patience to ensure that the sacrifices everybody took during the past months will not go to waste.
It will be recalled that the national government has left it up to the discretion of the respective local government units (LGUs) whether or not to include minors aged 10 to 14, classified as high-risk age group along with senior citizens, in the authorized persons outside of residence (APOR).
Particularly, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved the recommendation to relax age-based restrictions for areas under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) beginning February 1, 2021. This, on the other hand, was based on a proposal made by the Department of Trade and Industry, supposedly to help rev up the economy.
