Concepcion renews push for Alert Level 1 in NCR by March

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion on Saturday reiterated his proposal to de-escalate the quarantine status of the National Capital Region to lowest Alert Level 1, to boost further the country’s economic recovery.

“We recommended moving to Alert Level 1, sana (hopefully) by March. Matagal na ang sitwasyon na on-and-off ang ating ekonomiya (It’s been too long that our economy has been in an on-and-off situation),” Concepcion said in an interview on Dobol B TV on Saturday.

“Dapat Alert Level 1 na tayo. Nakikita natin per trajectory talagang bumababa na ang mga kaso, bumabagsak na siya” (We should be under Alert Level 1. We see a downward trajectory in terms of the number of cases), he said.

“Dito sa NCR at iba pang lugar sa bansa na mababa na talaga ang kaso ng COVID-19, dapat ilagay na sa Alert Level 1 o new normal,” he added.

(NCR and other places where COVID-19 cases are low, should be placed under Alert Level 1 or New Normal.)

OCTA Research, early this week, said that new COVID-19 cases will drop below 1,000 in March. 

According to Concepcion, if Metro Manila de-escalates to Alert Level 1 in March, the country’s first quarter gross domestic product may grow at 6%.

Philippine's gross domestic product rose by 7.7% in the fourth quarter of 2021, bringing the full-year growth to 5.6%.

Similarly, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said that the NCR would ease restrictions in the coming month, which could translate to over P11 billion in income, and over 191,000 jobs to the economy. 

Metro Manila was upgraded to Alert Level 3 on January 3, 2022, and was later downgraded to the looser Alert Level 2 starting February 1, 2022.

Concepcion is also proposing to trim the five-level COVID-19 alert system to three, and should function like the tropical cyclone warning system. 

He said his proposed alert level system will only be in place when there is a surge in cases. —LBG, GMA News