ILOILO City – After over a month under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), this city would de-escalate to the lighter modified ECQ beginning Monday (Aug. 16) until the end of the month, as recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID) and approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Iloilo province, meanwhile, would remain under MECQ for the said period.
The IATF-MEID also kept Aklan under MECQ for the rest of August, while Bacolod City, Antique and Capiz would still be under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until Aug. 31.
There were no changes in the quarantine levels of Negros Occidental and Guimaras, which were under GCQ for the rest of August.
In Iloilo City, Mayor Jerry Treñas issued Executive Order No. 75 mandating MECQ protocols amid the threat of the more transmissible Delta variant of the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
No more city-wide border control points starting Monday, Treñas said.
Travel of persons within Panay Island to Iloilo City by way of land, sea and air will remain limited only for essential purposes such as work, medical needs, accessing government services, transport of goods and/or construction materials, humanitarian purposes; and receiving first/second dose of COVID-19 vaccines; returning overseas Filipino (ROFs) workers, returning Iloilo City residents and authorized person outside residence (APOR); and residents of Iloilo and Guimaras provinces.
Moreover, travel for leisure purposes to and from Negros Island is prohibited. Transport of goods and cargo, meanwhile, will remain unhampered.
Also, only APORs shall be allowed ingress and egress to and from the city while non-APORs shall only be allowed entry upon compliance with the S-Pass System and presentation of a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result 72 hours prior to travel.
Also for the MECQ period, all inbound travel from areas other than Panay and Negros Island is only limited to ROFs, APOR and returning Iloilo City residents which are all subject to respective guidelines.
Starting Aug. 16, the curfew would be from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. except those working in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) industries, warehouses, ports, arrastre, food manufacturing, storage and preservation, hospitals, and media.
Vulnerable sectors are still not allowed outdoors. These include those 65 years old and above, minors, pregnant women, and persons with comorbidities and disabilities, except when securing essential goods and services.
Vaccination roll-out shall remain unhampered while public transportation is allowed subject to the guidelines issued by the Department of Transportation.
Further, only hotels or accommodation establishments accredited by the Department of Tourism (DOT) are allowed to open.
The sale of alcoholic drinks would be allowed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. only. Public consumption of these is prohibited.
The Iloilo Esplanade, playgrounds, parks, courts, and public plazas will open for individual outdoor exercises, provided people wear facemasks and maintain social distancing except for direct or indirect contact sports.
Mass gatherings of any kind are still prohibited. Religious denominations may continue their services with attendees not exceeding 10 percent of the venue capacity.
For wakes and funerals, only immediate family members are allowed to attend. Wakes shall be conducted only three days maximum from the time of death.
All persons tagged as close contacts of COVID-19 infected persons are required to undergo 14-day quarantine.
BUSINESSES ALLOWED TO OPEN
Full on-site capacity:
* private and public hospitals, clinics, health centers (dialysis, chemo, etc.).
* manufacturers of medicines and vitamins
* agriculture industries
* logistics services providers
* essential or priority construction projects
* food and essential goods manufacturing
* construction and maintenance manufacturers
* public markets, groceries, pharmacies, laundry shops, hardware, water-refilling stations
* restaurants, kiosks, and eateries (at 30 percent dine-in capacity)
* public transport providers
* water supply and sanitation facilities
* energy sector
* telecommunication, internet, cable service providers
* airline and aircraft maintenance
* security personnel licensed by the Philippine National Police
* printing establishments
* repair and maintenance of machinery
* teachers, professors and other school staff for purposes of conducting online/offline, and flexible classes, completion of grades, and processing of student credentials, requirements and documents
* lawyers who will provide legal representation necessary to protect rights of persons as well as legal services for permitted establishments, and law firms
* all other establishments, to the extent necessary for the buying and selling of consumer goods or services via the internet
All other business, persons, or activities, not included in the list are allowed to operate at 50 percent on-site capacity while encouraging work-from-home and other flexible work arrangements.
Meanwhile, prohibited to open are entertainment venues, recreational venues, amusement, theme parks, outdoor or indoor sports courts, casinos, horse racing, cockfighting, tourist attractions, libraries, museums, archives, galleries, and other face-to-face venues and other personal care services.
Meanwhile, banks operation here is allowed at full-on site capacity from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
At the Iloilo City government, offices are directed to adopt work arrangements that entail only a skeletal workforce. However, the operation of the Bids and Awards Committee, Business Permit and Licensing Office, Accountant’s Office, Treasurer’s Office, Budget Office, Engineer’s Office, General Services Office may be allowed at 30 percent on-site capacity.
Meantime, offices allowed to full on-site capacity are Health Office, Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, and Public Safety and Transportation Management Office.
Meantime, work in government agencies and offices in Iloilo City shall remain fully operational with a skeleton workforce on-site, enjoining to operate at 30 percent capacity, as determined by the head of agency, and the remainder under alternative work arrangements or work-from-home, as may be approved by the head of agency unless a greater on-site capacity is required in agencies providing health and emergency frontline services, among others./PN
