ENFORCEMENT of health and stay-home protocols for the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region starting this Friday will be stricter compared to previous lockdowns, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar yesterday said.
Año stressed there is a need to be stricter “because of the threat of the Delta variant,” which the World Health Organization has said is more transmissible than the original coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant.
The NCR will be under ECQ starting tomorrow, August 6, until 20 as the government ramps up its vaccination program and put in place measures to stop the spread of the Delta variant in the country.
The Department of Health has detected 216 Delta cases, of which 165 were locally transmitted. Nine regions have been found to have local cases of the variant, with the NCR having the highest number of infections.
“Cases in Metro Manila have been continuously increasing. We are going to be very strict this time because our objective here really is to restrict the movement of people to break the chain of transmission, especially that we have a transmission of Delta variant here in the National Capital Region,” Año said.
The NCR has been placed under ECQ twice already – one in March last year, and another in March this year. The ECQ is the highest community quarantine that authorities implement to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Año said law enforcers will not allow people who are not included in the list of Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APORs) to go out of their homes. APORs include workers of permitted industries and frontliners. People accessing essential goods and medicines, those due for vaccination and seeking medical treatment will be allowed to go out of their homes.
Eleazar said: “The provisions of ECQ is almost the same as before but as to our implementation, we are more prepared this time.”
Last Sunday, policemen put up quarantine control points or checkpoints in the boundaries of Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan with nearby provinces ahead of the ECQ implementation in NCR. The control points were meant to prevent NCR residents from leaving the capital region to avoid lockdown restrictions.
“When the ECQ takes effect, this large bubble will become some sort of tiny bubbles, every city inside Metro Manila will serve as a bubble area,” Eleazar said.
Eleazar said police stations in each of the local government units (LGUs) in NCR will also set up checkpoints in the boundaries of nearby LGUs and check quarantine violators.
Eleazar said workforce APORs will be allowed to pass through checkpoints and will be exempted from the uniform 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew. He said they only need to present identification cards, IDs provided by the Inter-Agency Task for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, certificate of employment and similar documents.
He said consumer APORs or residents who are accessing essential goods will not be allowed to cross to another LGU. He said they should access essential goods only in the LGUs where they are from.
He also said that consumer APORs should secure quarantine passes so they can go out of their homes. The QPs will be issued by barangays.
As to people who are due to be vaccinated, they need to present proof that they are scheduled for inoculation.
Eleazar reiterated violators will be sent home and “will not be allowed to cross. But if they are going to be rowdy, we are going to arrest them.”
Eleazar also said drivers who are not part of APORs are not allowed to fetch essential workers during the ECQ because “allowing non-APOR drivers to fetch workforce APORs can be abused by certain individuals.”
LGUs
The city government of Pasay yesterday said 21 barangays have been placed under localized ECQ for 14 days due to increasing number of COVID-19 active cases in the areas.
In a statement, Mayors Ime Calixto-Rubiano said the standard set by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is that if there are more than three active cases in a community, street, or compound, it should be place under clustering or localized lockdown for 14 days to contain the virus and stop its spread.
Rubiano said the 21 barangays cover 40 households from barangays 16, 18, 24, 36, 57, 63, 67, 76, 90, 125, 136, 139, 143, 147, 161, 135, 183, 184, 187, 188, and 201.
She said the city government has already distributed food packs to the affected households.
Latest records from the Pasay City Health Office showed that cases have increased to 190 as of August 3.
In Quezon City, the city government said the Business Permits and Licensing Department (BPLD) will regulate the sale of basic necessities, as contained under City Ordinance No. SP-2948 S-2020.
Under the ordinance, the number of items or goods that a person can purchase during the two-week ECQ will be limited to avoid panic buying and hoarding.
The purchase of sardines will be limited to five cans per brand per person, while other canned goods such as meat loaf and corned beef is limited to 10 cans per brand per customer, among other goods.
“We have to impose limits to avoid panic buying and hoarding that may lead to supply problems and could prevent other citizens from purchasing the needs of their families during the ECQ,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said
Belmonte also “ordered the revival of quarantine passes (to be) issued by the barangay to no more than one person per household, preferably to a person who is fully-vaccinated and otherwise does not have a company ID or other Authorized Person Outside Residents (APORs) ID.”
In addition, Belmonte mandated essential businesses that operate indoor facilities, such as supermarkets, palengkes and the like, to limit their capacity to ensure at least a two meters distance among customers and ensure sufficient ventilation.
Business establishments will be allowed to operate provided that they strictly implement the Kyusi Pass digital contact tracing method and QR code scanners.
The mayor said a liquor ban will be implemented in the city starting tomorrow. The operation of personal care services such as barber shops, nail spas, parlors and salons will also be temporarily halted.
OFFICE WORK
Malacañang has ordered all government offices in the NCR to maintain a skeleton force during the two-week ECQ period to ensure continued operation and provision of public services.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, in issuing Memorandum Circular No. 87 on August 3, said all government offices should limit to 20 percent its number of employees who would report physically to their respective offices while the rest can work from home during the August 6 to 20 lockdown.
Medialdea said in the memorandum that the head of the agency shall determine the size of the skeleton workforce that would be on-site.
“To ensure continuity of government service, the skeleton workforce shall not be less than 20 percent on-site capacity at any given time, with the remainder being under work- from-home arrangements. Nonetheless, agencies providing health and emergency frontline services, laboratory and testing services, border control, and other critical services shall be allowed up to full on-site capacity,” the memorandum read.
Offices under the Legislative and Judicial branches of government, independent constitutional bodies, and local government units are urged to adopt the provisions of the memorandum.
LOCKDOWN AID
Año said the govenrment may start the distribution of financial assistance to NCR residents starting tomorrow. “We will try our best to start the distribution when the ECQ takes effect,” he said.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government has set aside P13.1 billion for NCR residents who will be affected by the ECQ declaration.
Año said the DILG is holding meetings with other government agencies, including the Department of Social Welfare and Development, to finalize the details of the distribution.
Citing initial discussion, Año said the assistance will be distributed using the same model in March when NCR and the nearby provinces of Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and Bulacan were placed under ECQ.
Año admitted there were difficulties in the distribution of financial assistance last March but this went well later on.
He said the assistance will be given either in distribution points, house-to-house, and through digital platforms.
Meanwhile, almost 400,000 workers are projected to benefit from the planned new round of financial assistance by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), according to labor spokesman Rolly Francia.
Francia said an estimated 398,000 employees may benefit once the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) grants the agency’s request for a P2 billion supplemental budget.
“Under CAMP, the usual, that will be P5,000 per worker… the displaced workers will be provided assistance through remittance centers,” said Francia, adding: “We estimate that the P2 billion will reach some 398,000 worker-beneficiaries.”
The NCR is set to receive the biggest allocation with P776 million, which is good for 155,000 workers.
Central Luzon is allocated P298 million for 59,000 workers, while Calabarzon is set to be given P179 million for 35,000 workers.
Western Visayas is also given a budget of P159 million for 31,000 workers, while Northern Mindanao will get P39 million for 7,000 workers.
There will also be P537 million to be allocated to 107,000 workers from other areas that may be placed under ECQ.
“We hope that the DBM will not deprive our workers by not granting the request of the DOLE to assist our workers in the formal sector during the period of the ECQ starting on Friday,” said Francia.
Francia said the DOLE is already looking to tap the budget of the agency for the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program, which is its emergency employment program.
The DSWD, including its main office, field offices and National Resource Operations Center has P1.602 billion worth of funds and relief packs available that can be tapped to assist communities affected by the latest lockdowns.
The DSWD said it has P799.4 million standby funds, mostly from its Quick Response Fund (QRF), a stockpile of 299,131 family food packs (FFPs) amounting to P161.4 million, P186.21 million worth of food items and P455.3 million worth of non-food items available.
DSWD’s Disaster Response Management Bureau (DRMB) office is on “blue alert status” for possible COVID-19 response operations especially during the ECQ period.
In Western Visayas, the DSWD Field Office VI (Western Visayas) has already completed the release of more than P2.6 billion to LGUs in the Iloilo Province and Iloilo City for their cash aid and other relief assistance.
Some 600,000 families would benefit from the one-time P1,000 cash aid per individual, with a maximum of P4,000 per family, which is sourced from the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).
Distribution have started in the towns of Anilao, Mina, Tubungan, Miag-ao, Pavia, Zarraga, New Lucena, Mina, Pototan, Maasin, Bingawan, Barotac Nuevo, and Dingle in Iloilo province, while beneficiaries in Cagayan de Oro City and Gingoog City will soon receive their cash aid after the DSWD Northern Mindanao office completed the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the LGUs concerned last August 3.
DSWD released over P978.8 million funds to cover some 191,956 families in Cagayan de Oro City and 53,000 families in Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental.
Apart from the cash aid, FFPs are also provided to families and individuals living in areas under ECQ.
As of August 3, over 54,000 FFPs have been distributed for the whole Iloilo Province including Iloilo City, more than 29,344 FFPs have been distributed to Gingoog City, and 10,000 FFPs to Cagayan de Oro City.
MASS GRAVES
Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores, during the Laging Handa public briefing, assured the public that use of mass graves to bury those who perished from COVID-19 is safe as long as protocols are followed strictly.
Miraflores said while it is ideal to have the bodies of those who died of COVID-19 cremated, they can also be buried as long as it is below six feet under ground and within 12 hours after death.
He also said that the gravesite should be separate and far from the regular burial grounds being used by the public.
Miraflores ordered all municipalities in Aklan to put up mass grave sites for those who died of COVID-19 after the single crematory that serves the whole Panay region scaled down its operation after one of its crematory machines broke down.
The crematorium, located in Iloilo City, scaled down its activities to cremating 10 bodies a day from the previous 20 to 30 bodies a day.
Miraflores said Aklan has recorded 184 deaths from March to present, with the surge of deaths happening between May and August this year. He said 47 deaths had been recorded in Aklan due to COVID from March last year to April this year, and 137 deaths between May to present.
He said the province’s attack rate is around 22 percent while COVID hospitals are now around 80 percent full.
Aklan has a total of 8,383 COVID-19 cases, of whom 6,544 have already recovered and 1,656 are active cases. — With Noel Talacay, Jocelyn Montemayor and Gerard Naval
