Police set tighter security checks in Metro Manila, other areas under MECQ

Authorities will increase and tighten checkpoints in Metro Manila and several neighboring provinces that President Rodrigo Duterte placed back under the second strictest pandemic lockdown, a police official said Monday. 

Instead of having checkpoints only in the boundaries between regions and provinces, there will also be checkpoints between cities and towns under the modified enhanced community quarantine or MECQ, said Joint Task Force COVID Shield Commander Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar. 

This aims to prevent the public from getting goods and services outside the area where they live, he told ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo. 

“Kung hindi kayo mga authorized persons outside residence dahil hindi naman kayo workforce sa mga permitted industry, ‘wag na po kayong lumabas ng bahay,” he added. 

(If you are not an authorized person outside residence because you are not part of the workforce in permitted industries, don’t go out of your homes.) 
 
The modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from Aug. 4 to 18 will cover Metro Manila and Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan provinces. 

The second strictest of 4 lockdown levels bans buses, jeepneys, taxis, ride-hailing services, and tricycles from plying the roads, and limits the operation of manufacturing plants and other establishments to half of their capacity. 

• Modified, enhanced, general quarantine: What's the difference?

Coronavirus infections in the Philippines on Sunday breached the 100,000-mark. The country could have 150,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of August, David earlier said.