Palace issues guidelines on community quarantine which starts Sunday
Malacanang issued on Saturday a memorandum containing “emergency but temporary directives and guidelines which are primarily intended to address the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.”
The guidelines were in a memorandum signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Friday night.
According to Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo after a thorough review of the Office of the President of directives and guidelines by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), Medialdea issued the memorandum circular.
Panelo said memorandum states that stringent social distancing measures will be imposed in the National Capital Region (NCR) from March 15, 2020 until April 14, 2020.
Under the memorandum all the “mass gatherings such as movie screenings, concerts, sporting events and other entertainment activities, community assemblies, and non-essential work-related gatherings shall be prohibited.”
But “essential work-related meetings and religious activities may continue so long as strict social distancing, defined as the strict maintenance of a distance of at least one meter radius between and among those attending, is maintained during the entirety of the event.”
Local government units should impose general community quarantine in their respective jurisdictions, where “movement of people shall be limited to accessing basic necessities and work; and uniformed personnel and quarantine officers shall be present at border points.”
Under the memo all areas under general community quarantine shall “restrict the non-essential entry of people to the contained area, especially persons who are at high risk of being infected” which includes senior citizens, people who are immunocompromised or with co-morbidities and pregnant women.
The non-essential exit of people out of the contained area should also be prevented except from “the health workers, authorized government officials, those travelling for medical or humanitarian reasons, and those who were granted entry” provided all persons leaving the contained community must be checked for signs and symptoms of the virus
“If circumstances so warrant, the DOH and the DILG may direct an LGU to impose enhanced community quarantine, which is defined as a condition where strict home quarantine shall be implemented in all households, transportation shall be suspended, provision for food and essential health services shall be regulated, and the presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures shall be heightened,” Panelo said.
He said the memorandum also noted that the “alternative working arrangements, including but not limited to, work-from home, compressed work week, staggered working hours, and creation of skeletal workforces, shall be implemented in the Executive Branch.”
However “all members of the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard, and health and emergency frontline services are directed to continue full operation,” while the “legislative and judicial branches, as well as the independent constitutional bodies are encouraged to adopt the same policy.”
Panelo said the suspension of classes and school activities in all levels in the NCR shall remain in force until April 14, 2020. Robina Asido/DMS
