Late Sunday night, the President addressed the nation and declared that the National Capital Region (NCR), Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan would be placed back under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), from August 4 to 18.
One of the main features of MECQ is that government offices remain open.
Agencies and instrumentalities of the government, including GOCCs, as well as LGUs may operate with a skeleton workforce in combination with other alternative work arrangements as approved by the head of agency unless a different operational capacity is required in agencies providing health and emergency frontline services, border control, and other critical services.
Section 3 (Guidelines for Areas Placed Under MECQ), Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines, 16 July 2020
And that’s exactly what the COMELEC has been doing since the start of July. In fact, coming up to the end of July, skeleton work forces in the Commission practically doubled as the COMELEC began preparations for the probable resumption of voter registration in September.
However, COVID transmissions have been consistently on the rise leading to these breathtaking numbers:
And as Commissioner Rowena Guanzon tweeted:
Thankfully, the afflicted COMELEC Director is now doing better, but under the circumstances, prudence dictates that COMELEC take a beat.
Coincidentally, the period set aside for what amounts to a voluntary declaration of MECQ by the COMELEC lines up almost exactly with the actual MECQ declaration of the President.
During this COMELEC time-out, disinfection and decontamination activities will be conducted in each and every office of the COMELEC in Intramuros. This includes the Main Offices — located at the Palacio del Gobernador, the old COMELEC Annex Building and the Shipping Center — as well as the Offices of the Regional Directors of NCR, IV-A, and IV-B.
