MANILA, Philippines – Bacolod City is still under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) until May 15, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Thursday, April 30. 

The Bacolod City council had earlier requested the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to extend the ECQ to stop the “sudden influx” of people going in and out of the city. Bacolod City was earlier missing from the IATF’s high-risk areas.

After the IATF met Wednesday night, April 29, Roque said the task decided that the following areas are still under ECQ until May 15:

1. National Capital Region
2. Region III
3. Region IV-A
4. Pangasinan
5. Benguet
6. Iloilo
7. Cebu
8. Bacolod City
9. Davao City

Beginning May 16, Roque said the IATF is the only authorized body to declare any quarantine-related impositions over provinces, highly-urbanized cities (HUCs) and independent component cities (ICCs).

Local officials can recommend, but it must have the concurrence of “the relevant counterpart body of the IATF.”

“This is without prejudice to the authority of the IATF to directly impose, lift, or extend ECQ in these areas should circumstances call for it,” said Roque.

Roque warned local government units (LGUs) that “no LGU shall declare its own community quarantine, regardless of nomenclature, without observing the foregoing procedure.” – Rappler.com