BY JHON ALDRIN CASINAS
Metro Manila mayors don’t want to play spoilers but for everybody’s sake, especially when health is concerned, they cut short the celebration of the minors.
This is so after the top executives of NCR unanimously voted on Wednesday night not to allow minors to go outside, including going to malls, as the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) still lingers.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) General Manager Jose Arturo Garcia said Thursday that all of the 17 mayors in the National Capital Region (NCR) voted to disallow children aged 17 years old and below to leave their residence.
“Unanimous po. 17-0 mayors will not allow minors to go out,” Garcia said in a virtual press briefing Thursday.
Garcia said the decision was made after Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) Inc. recommended to prohibit minors from going out and enter shopping malls this holiday season because it is still dangerous.
The MMDA official noted minors are only allowed to leave their homes for essential purposes such as doctors appointment.
On Monday, President Duterte retained the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status over Metro Manila until the end of the year.
The Inter-Agency Task Force has earlier relaxed age restrictions in areas under community quarantine by allowing residents belonging to age group 15 to 65 years to leave their homes.
But the MMC, the governing and policy-making body of the MMDA composed of the metro mayors, agreed to only allow residents aged 18 to 65 years old to be outside.
“This December, NCR is under GCQ status, only 18 to 65 years old are allowed to go outside,” Garcia said.
The mayors failed to come up with a decision during its meeting on Tuesday night on the matter of allowing minors to go outside.
Garcia said the local chief executives chose to wait for the recommendations of health experts and come up with a resolution based on facts presented to them.
