BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and IRMA ISIP
GOVERNMENT has eased restrictions imposed on business establishments in the National Capital Region and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, collectively called the NCR Plus, which President Duterte has placed under extended general community quarantine with restrictions until June 15.
In Advisory 21-09 dated May 31, the Department of Trade and Industry said capacities of business establishments in areas under GCQ have been increased.
Food preparation establishments such as commissaries, restaurants and eateries that offer indoor dine-in services can accommodate 30 percent of venue capacity, while outdoor or al fresco dining is at 50 percent. The establishment is allowed an additional 10 percent of indoor dining capacity if it has a safety seal.
Indoor dining was limited to only 20 percent of venue or seating capacity during the past two weeks that the NCR Plus bubble was under GCQ with ‘heightened restrictions.’
The DTI advisory also said personal care like beauty salons/parlors, barbershops and nail spas may already operate up to 50 percent capacity, an increase from its previous allowed capacity of only 30 percent.
Venues for meetings, conferences, exhibitions, which are allowed to operate up to 50 percent of the capacity under GCQ, are only allowed up to 30 percent capacity with a possible 10 percent additional capacity if granted a safety seal under the heightened GCQ.
Religious services and activities are also allowed up to 30 percent capacity but can be increased by local government units up to 50 percent.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said lottery and horse racing with off track betting is also permitted, as well as outdoor and non-contact sports.
But indoor sports venues, gyms and indoor tourist attractions will not be allowed under the heightened GCQ. Also prohibited are cockfighting, entertainment venues such as theatres, bars and concert halls; recreational venues such as internet cafes, billiards, arcades; amusement parks, playgrounds and kiddie rides.
President Duterte, on Monday night, approved the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to extend the GCQ “with heightened restrictions” in in the NCR Plus from June 1 to 15.
The President also placed Baguio City, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Abra, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Batangas, Quezon, Iligan City, Davao City, Lanao del Sur, and Cotabato City under GCQ from June 1 to 30.
Duterte also imposed the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from June 1 to 15 in Santiago City, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Puerto Princesa City, Iloilo City, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Cagayan de Oro City, Butuan City, and Agusan del Sur due to increasing number of cases in these provinces.
The rest of the country is under the least strict quarantine classification of modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) until the end of the month.
Roque said Malacañang extended the GCQ with restrictions classification in the NCR Plus to control and prevent another surge of COVID-19 cases in the bubble.
He said while NCR Plus, especially Metro Manila, have shown a decline in its daily attack rate and two-week average daily attack rate, and an improvement in its hospital utilization rate, the current number of COVID-19 cases is still higher than the number of infections at the time that cases started to go up.
“The cases remain high, and there is a threat that it may again go up if we return to normal, at least the normal GCQ. That’s why we are being careful,” he said.
He said Metro Manila mayors have also recommended the gradual opening of the economy in NCR to control the spread of infection.
Roque said the national government continues to monitor the situation in other parts of the country and extends whatever assistance it can to help keep down the number of COVID-19 infections in the country, especially in places under the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine.
“We understand that we have not imposed a lockdown in Visayas and Mindanao in the past months, and this may have caused the increase in cases there,” he said.
Roque said travels coming from the NCR Plus bubble to other parts of the country with different quarantine classifications, or interzonal travel, without age limits has also been approved by the IATF. The travels, however, are subject to COVID-19 testing and the restrictions imposed by the local government of the destination.
Roque said intrazonal travels or travels within the NCR Plus bubble, or in areas with the same quarantine classification, is still allowed while people outside the 18 to 65 age groups are still discouraged from going out of their homes unless for essential travels such as buying of groceries and medicine or going to work.
Roque said under the heightened GCQ, staycations in hotels with Certificates of Authority to Operate for staycations is allowed up to 100 percent capacity and without age restrictions, while only up to 30 percent and without age restrictions is allowed in other government-accredited hotels.
Under GCQ operations, hotel operations are already allowed.
“On behalf of the DOT (Department of Tourism), I thank our colleagues in the IATF for this development. Allowing leisure travel for all ages from the NCR Plus bubble to MGCQ areas will surely help local tourism back on track towards recovery,” said Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat.
“We are looking forward to once again see our tourism destinations welcome tourists from the NCR Plus area. Of course, this has to be done with utmost precaution. The DOT shall continue to strengthen its coordination with our LGUs to ensure the strict compliance of health and safety protocols,” Puyat said.
The justice and interior departments and the PNP yesterday signed a Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) that lays down the guidelines on catching and penalizing violations of health and safety protocols throughout the country.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the JMC is needed to prevent another surge of COVID-19 cases and the re-imposition of ECQ in the NCR Plus.
“It was truly a trying season for everyone involved and we must therefore do our outmost to avoid a repetition,” said Año.
Ano and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra signed the JMC on behalf of the DILG and DOJ, respectively, during a ceremony held virtually. PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar Eleazar also signed the circular to represent the PNP.
Año said the guidelines “gives teeth to our laws, policies and local ordinances as we delve to stringently implement the public health standards, the safety protocols and to include curfew hours in communities.”
The JMC clarifies the roles of the DILG, DOJ and the PNP in handling quarantine-related violations – from arrest, investigation, detention, filing of charges to legal proceedings of cases filed against violators.
The agreement mandates the DILG to “ensure that all local chief executives adopt and implement all applicable guidelines issued by the President and those issued by IATF regarding minimum public health standards and precautions such as wearing of face mask, maintenance of social distancing and compliance to curfew hours.”
The DILG also mandated LGUs to identify places that shall serve as holding areas for the violators for investigation and booking purposes. The holding areas must be able to accommodate as many persons as possible, without violation of social distancing.
It likewise mandates the “active and meaning participation” of barangay officials in the implementation of health protocols and curfew hours.
The DILG will likewise hold accountable local government officials who will fail to enforce guidelines issued by the President, health protocols from the IATF and other relevant health and safety ordinances.
Meanwhile, the PNP will “assist LGUs in the strict enforcement of all directives, laws and ordinances relative to the curtailment of the spread of COVID-19,” including the wearing of face mask, social distancing, and curfew.
The JMC said any arrest of violators should be anchored on local ordinances and laws. The arrested violators, it added, should be subjected to investigated and designated at the holding areas prepared by the LGUs.
“If the violator is found to have an outstanding warrant of arrest, he/she shall be detained.
If the violation committed requires that the person be subjected to inquest proceedings, such person shall be presented before an inquest prosecutor within the period provided by law,” the JMC read.
In the event the law or ordinance prescribes the penalty of fine and allows the violator to pay the fine prior to filing of a formal complaint before the prosecutors’ office, the PNP should allow the violators to pay the fine with the treasurer’s offices of LGUs or barangays where he or she was arrested “to avoid being criminally prosecuted.”
The PNP is also tasked to “strictly observe, at all times, the rules of criminal procedures, particularly the rule on warrantless arrest, and relevant police protocols in the enforcement of the guidelines provides therein.”
For the DOJ, the inquest prosecutor must conduct inquest proceedings, either virtually or physically, in cases of warrantless of violators on the same day of the police endorsement of the case.
The inquest prosecutor, the JMC added, must determine the validity of the warrantless arrest as well as the applicable violation of health and safety ordinances, quarantine-related violations and other related violations and subsequently file the case in court if there is probable cause.
It said the inquest prosecutor must also order the release of the violator if the warrant arrest is invalid and dismiss the case if there is a finding of no probable cause.
The JMC said the inquest prosecutor, in the determination of the validity of the warrantless arrest, shall at all times consider material facts and the evidence presented by law enforcement units.
“If there is a need for additional evidence, and release for further investigation is proper, the inquest prosecutor must do so taking into account the congestion inside jails and detention facilities,” it added.
It also said the city or provincial prosecutor must immediately issue resolutions and information “to avoid the unnecessary congestion in jails and detention centers, to reduce the possible exposure of the detained person/s to COVID-19 and to give the detained person the opportunity to post bail, if applicable.”
Eleazar said the guidelines are actually already being implemented by the police force.
“We have seen that the provisions of this Joint Memorandum Circular are basically the guidelines given to us by the national task force (IATF) and the DILG,” said Eleazar. — With Victor Reyes
