FROM 700 last Saturday, the number of areas under granular lockdown in the country rose to 900 as of Sunday, according to the PNP.
Data provided by the police force said 330 of these areas are in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), up by 28 from Saturday’s figure.
The number of areas under granular lockdown in Ilocos region remained at 233 while Cagayan Valley, which had none as of last Saturday, had 212.
The National Capital Region has 106 under granular lockdown, down from 146 as of Saturday, while Mimaropa has 19 areas, unchanged from last Saturday’s figure.
The 900 areas granular lockdown are situated in 362 barangays within in 33 cities and municipalities and are manned by 439 policemen and 1,120 force multipliers or personnel from barangays, cities, and municipalities.
Police said these lockdowns are affecting 1,295 households or 2,557individuals.
Meanwhile, the number of quarantine violators accosted nationwide from January 3 to 23 now stands at 528,791.
The PNP said 465,970 of the violators were accosted for violation of minimum public health standards, 51,100 for curfew violation and 11,721 were non-authorized persons outside residence.
It said 448,738 of the violators were merely warned, 44,485 were fined, and 35,568 were brought to the police stations to be charged.
More than 25,000 workers have been displaced by the reimposition of the Alert Level 3 in several parts of the country, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.
In an online press briefing, Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay said they have recorded over 1,600 businesses being affected adversely by the stricter protocols.
“As of January 23, the number of workers affected by temporary closure, permanent closure, and retrenchment has reached 25,855 coming from 1,676 establishments,” Tutay said, adding this is a sharp increase considering there were only 11,586 workers from 759 establishments displaced as of January 15.
Tutay said the number does not include those under flexible work arrangements.
She noted that Alert Level 3 has prompted alternative work arrangements for some 26,954 workers.
“We have close to 51,000 affected workers all in all, including those under flexible work arrangements,” said Tutay.
While displaced workers have doubled in numbers, DOLE reported there were only a few applicants on the first day of the revived financial assistance program of the agency.
According to Tutay, as of 4 p.m. yesterday, there were only 116 business establishments involving 1,223 employees and close to 500 individual applications that have been filed for the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).
She said one factor for the low turnout is the lack of knowledge on the one-time cash assistance for workers displaced because of the reimposition of Alert Level 3.
“There could be some confusion. Some might just want to see if the program is true. Of course, this is a true program,” said Tutay.
Another reason, she said, could be the exclusion of the employees under flexible work arrangements from CAMP. — With Gerard Naval
