Last night Mar. 17, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III, and Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez held a press conference to address and clarify the newest implementations on Luzon’s “enhanced community quarantine” which was announced by the president during a press conference last Mar. 16.
New operational guidelines and amendments approved by the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) were announced.
Issuance of IATF passes for skeletal workforces
The IATF will create accreditation IDs to be issued by the government in order to identify the respective skeletal forces for critical services operating during the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.
All those exempted from the home quarantine must have IATF accreditation IDs which will be designed by the Presidential Communications Operations Office. The period for the issuance shall be until Mar. 21. In the meantime, bona fide IDs issued by the respective agencies and companies shall suffice as IDs only until Mar. 21 or until such time that the accreditation is issued by the agency.
Health and emergency frontline workers
Included among the people exempted from home quarantine are health and emergency frontliners, specifically public health workers in the Department of Health hospital, local government unit hospital, and provincial and rural hospitals. Private health workers such as medical professionals, hospital administration, and their service providers are also considered frontliners, as well as health workers and volunteers of the Philippine Red Cross and World Health Organization.
The Department of Transportation is tasked to develop a point-to-point system to ferry health workers to and from their designated workplaces.
Continued cargo deliveries
The Philippine National Police is instructed to allow the unimpeded movement of cargo workers. They are subjected to checkpoints and must follow all the protocols to continue their operations.
Capital markets, BPO, banks continue operations
Capital markets including but not limted to the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Securities and Exchange Commision, Philippine Stock Exchange and Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corporation shall be allowed to operate beginning today, Mar. 18 subject to skeletal forces only. Business Processing Outsourcing companies and other export oriented services are granted 24 hours to facilitate work from home services.
Sec. Nograles also emphasizes that banks will remain open, however it is up to their discretion on how to go about their operations. Sec. Bello also mentions that employees can go to work thrice a week instead of five, according to the company’s decided work arrangements.
Aid for Filipino livelihood
The Department of Labor and Employment will authorize a skeletal staff to conduct the Tulong Hanapbuhay program in order to help livelihoods that have been affected by the quarantine.
Allowable air travel for OFWs, balikbayans and foreigners
Overseas Filipino workers, balikbayans, and foreigners are allowed to leave the country through any of the ports during the enhanced community quarantine. They must present an international travel itinerary scheduled within 24 hours of the flight. They must not travel to a country where the Philippines has set restrictions such as China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Departing passengers are only allowed one person for company to the airport. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will also provide transportation services for passengers to reach the airports.
Ceased operations for hotels, gaming operators
Hotels shall no longer accommodate any new bookings. Only those who have existing bookings as of Mar. 17, those who have long term leases, and those exempted from the home quarantine are allowed to stay in hotels. Philippine offshore gaming operators will also stop their operations.
Continued delivery operations
Delivery services such as transporting food, goods and medicines shall be allowed to operate during the period of enhanced community quarantine. These include in-house or outsourced delivery operations. However, e-commerce platforms for non-essential goods are not allowed to operate.
[READ: Grab PH halts car services, resumes food and delivery operations]
Extended operations for media
Media personnel can continue operating in Luzon until Mar. 21. Afterwards, only those granted with the IATF accreditation ID are exempted from the strict home quarantine.
Emergency and Operations Center
The IATF for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases in the Philippines will establish an Emergency and Operation Center at Camp Aguinaldo. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) must also develop a resilience and recovery plan at national, regional and local levels.
Addressing unpaid leaves
Secretary Bello said that workers can not report to work and they will be excused. He also says that DOLE will subsidize the leaves after leave credits have been finished. He also said that employees should not credit these as leaves because of the enhanced community quarantine.
“Pag pinilit ka ng employer mo na mag 14-day quarantine tapos wala ka nang leave credits, DOLE na mag sa-subsidize noon sa employer mo,” Bello said.
Barricaded transportation issues
On the first day of the enhanced community quarantine, workers continued to take to the streets in order to get to their jobs and continue with work. However, because of the suspension of public transport, most were caught between borders where crowds began to form which made it unsuitable for social distancing.
Sec. Nograles says that they have addressed the issue with the IATF on how to make the lines and processes faster at the checkpoints. According to PNP Chief Archie Gamboa, also present at the press conference, the PNP is trying to provide the police at checkpoints with more alcohol and supplies.
These measures of IATF passes and provided transportation services are implemented to hopefully increase the mobility of frontliners, especially health care workers. However, we are yet to see the aid given to Filipinos who will be losing their livelihood during the quarantine.
State of calamity
Citing a recommendation from the NDRRMC, the president has also declared a state of calamity throughout the country yesterday Mar. 17. This will allow the national government and LGUs to apply “ample latitude to utilize appropriate funds, including the Quick Response Fund (QRF), in their preparedness and response efforts to contain COVID-19.”
The QRFs are built-in budgets allocated for catastrophes and crises. They are pre-disaster or standby funds for agencies to use during these times. Along with this, there will also be a price freeze during the state of calamity.
As of writing, more than 180 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the country.
Header photo courtesy of Inquirer.net
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Writer: THEA TORRES
