MANILA, Philippines — The first summer edition of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) has been postponed following the order of President Rodrigo Duterte to place Metro Manila being under “community quarantine” to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In a Facebook post on Thursday night, the festival organizers announced: “In light of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and health emergency, the Summer Metro Manila Film Festival is hereby postponed.”
The film festival was supposed to run from April 11 to 21. No re-schedule date was given.
As cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines soared to 52, Duterte placed the entire National Capital Region (NCR) under “community quarantine” to contain the spread of the disease.
The global COVID-19 crisis was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.