IT was announced by Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat that the Intramuros Administration (IA) will open Intramuros to all tourists starting today, September 16.
Metro Manila was under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) yesterday and authorities are experimenting on a new pilot run of granular lockdowns and a novel alert level system that is too complicated to understand. Intramuros closed down its doors to tourists in August when Metro Manila was put under ECQ, the most stringent community quarantine classification.
The good thing is that under the granular lockdowns policy, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) allows outdoor tourism to open, if the area of course is free from COVID-19.
‘Perhaps it is time for the city of
Manila to reclaim its territory from the DOT, with Congress amending a Marcos presidential decree, so that traffic management and other aspects of governance in Intramuros can align with the rest of the city.’
Many people, especially in the National Capital Region, are happy that they will have another open space with fresh air and sunshine to visit, and it is in the heart of Manila. Most happy here is Secretary Puyat, who said, “A lot of people have been wanting to go to Intramuros because it’s just right here in Manila, its outdoor space, open air.”
Puyat said that since Metro Manila is under Alert Level 4, the popular historical and cultural site will be subject to age restriction, which means that those below 18 and above 65 of age will not be allowed.
The opening of Intramuros to tourists will somehow revive the usual opportunities for livelihood of residents, tourist guides, karetelas, tricycles, stores, restaurants, parking lots, hotel employees, Catholic priests, security guards, and the Intramuros golf course workers.
This will be a lot of help for many workers both in the formal and informal economies to tide them over during these hard pandemic times.
While we are on the topic of Intramuros, it should be mentioned that IA did a disservice to the few motorists and pedestrians who still have business inside Intramuros and Port Area during the ECQ by closing all the gates of Intramuros except for those near the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and Manila Cathedral. IA also exposed the whole district to fire risks because in case of fire and other emergencies, there will be a few minutes of delay before they could open the gates.
Perhaps it is time for the City of Manila to reclaim its territory from the DOT, with Congress amending a Marcos presidential decree, so that traffic management and other aspects of governance in Intramuros can align with the rest of the city.
