Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas will again make an appeal to the National Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to lower the city’s quarantine classification.

The city is under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for two weeks since July 16.

“Many are already complaining to me that they are hungry and they can no longer feed their families,” the mayor lamented.

Treñas noted that while the COVID-19 cases of Iloilo City are starting to go down, the parameters being looked upon by the IATF are still high.

He said the city’s COVID and ICU bed utilization rates are still high since patients coming from Antique, Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo province, and Guimaras are being brought to the city hospitals for treatment. Cases continue to go up in the said provinces.

Nevertheless, Treñas stressed that the city is doing very well in contact tracing.

It has the highest RT-PCR tests in the whole region. Houses with many positive cases are placed on lockdown while the city has a lot of quarantine facilities for COVID-19-positive patients.

“We need the national IATF to understand that we are a regional center. If the city is on lockdown again, so many are out of jobs,” Treñas said.

He added that the 1,000 per person that will be given by the government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will help, but unfortunately, it will not be enough.

While he pushes for lower quarantine classification, Treñas emphasized that it is still the NIATF that will decide.

From July 1 to 26 this year, the city logged 2,346 cases with the daily average of 90 cases. This is 15.25 percent lower compared to the same period last month (June 1 to 26) with 2,768 cases with daily average of 106.

Meanwhile, based on the Department of Health 6 data, Iloilo City has still 1,440 active cases; 11,662 total recoveries; and 363 COVID deaths. (Glenda Tayona)/WDJ