The government is placing the province of Ifugao under the second strictest lockdown level — modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) — from May 1 to 14, while the city of Puerto Princesa in Palawan has been placed under general community quarantine (GCQ) for the whole month of May.

The Ifugao and Puerto Princesa lockdowns were requested by provincial authorities, presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr. said in a televised news briefing on Friday.

Mr. Roque said the Covid-19 taskforce also shortened the length of time that Quirino province and Santiago City in Cagayan Valley and Abra province in the Cordillera Administrative Region  would be under modified lockdown to just two weeks from the original month. 

The National Capital Region Plus (composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal ) will remain under MECQ until May 14.

“Health promotion and strict enforcement of minimum public health standards in all areas, especially their uniform implementation in high-risk areas, must continue,” Mr. Roque said in a statement. “These areas include the healthcare settings, wet markets, supermarkets, government offices, workplaces, and at home, among others.”

He said local governments were authorized to implement localized lockdowns to prevent community transmission.

Mr. Roque said the taskforce also allowed personal care services to operate at an initial 30% capacity and restaurants to offer indoor dining at an initial 10%capacity in areas under MECQ.

In a related development, Mr. Roque said the Philippines will lift its ban on the entry of foreign nationals — except for those coming from India or with a history of travel to the country — starting on May 1. He said inbound passengers must have a valid and existing visa “except for those under Balikbayan Program.”

Travellers must also have pre-booked accommodations for at least seven nights in an accredited quarantine hotel or facility. They must be tested in their quarantine facility “on the sixth day from the date of their arrival.”

The Philippines imposed a travel ban on India from April 29 to May 14 as the South Asian country suffers under a second wave of coronavirus infections. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza

The health department on Friday reported over 8,000 new cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In a statement released on Friday, the Department of Health (DoH) said that as of April 30, it recorded 8,748 new cases of the virus. This brings the total number of positive cases in the country since the pandemic began to 1,037,460.

The DoH said of the total number, 73,908 are active cases. Over 95% of the active cases are categorized as mild while 1.7% were asymptomatic. The DoH said that 1.3% of the active cases were severe, 1% were critical, and 0.87% were moderate.

The DoH also added 89 deaths to its tally, bringing the total death count since the pandemic started to 17,234.

The number of new recoveries is 4,143, bringing the total number of recoveries since the pandemic started to 946,318. 

In terms of healthcare capacity in the country, the DoH reported that 64% of ICU beds are being utilized while 51% ward beds were occupied and 42% of isolation beds were being used. 

The DoH data showed that 71% of ICU beds in Metro Manila are being used as are 62% of ward beds and 51% of isolation beds; 55% of ventilators in the region are also in use.

To end the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China on the Spratly Islands, retired Supreme Court (SC) Justice Antonio T. Carpio says the 2016 arbitral award will have to be enforced by the new administration after President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s term ends in 2022.

The arbitral award is the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that favored the Philippines’ over China’s claims in the West Philippine Sea or the South China Sea where the disputed Spratly Islands are located.

In a webinar on Friday, Mr. Carpio said, “the challenges to the enforcement of the award all come from two sources: first from China, which is expected since China refuses to accept the award; and, second, from a totally unexpected source — from President Duterte of the Philippines.”

Mr. Duterte earlier said the Philippines does not want war with China as “China is a friend,” but that the Philippines’ sovereignty over the disputed waterway is non-negotiable even if the Philippines owes China a “debt of gratitude” for its donation of at least a million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac.

Mr. Carpio said further that all four states prejudiced by China’s so-called nine-dash line — Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia — and all outside naval powers — the US, the UK, France, Japan, Australia, Canada, India, the EU, and Russia — agree with the three main bases of the award.

The three main bases of the award are that China’s nine-dash line (which it claims shows the extent of its territory in the South China Sea) “has no legal effect and cannot serve as basis to claim waters and resources beyond what UNCLOS (the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea) allows”; that the Philippines has an exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea untouched by China’s nine-dash line; and, that “none of the islands in the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal generate an exclusive economic zone, only territorial seas,” he said.

However, Brendan Plant, Fellow at the Lauterpacht Center for International Law and Downing College, University of Cambridge, UK, said in the same webinar that tribunals cannot enforce rulings.

Mr. Plant suggested that the Philippines file a new dispute, or one under UNCLOS for China’s non-compliance with the 2016 arbitral award, which he says is a “breach of obligation to UNCLOS and to international law.”

In addition, Julian G. Ku, Senior Associate Dean at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law, Hofstra University, USA, also said in the webinar that the Philippines could pass a law to criminalize the presence of fishing vessels in its exclusive economic zones.

The Philippine task force had said earlier that about 240 Chinese vessels that China claims are ordinary fishing vessels are in the West Philippine Sea, within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago