A man walks in front of a mall along Bajada on JP Laurel Avenue, under the watch of law enforcers who are making sure residents stay home. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 14 May) – The city will implement an eight-hour curfew, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., if the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases approves its appeal to shift from enhanced community quarantine to a less restrictive general community quarantine starting May 16.
The five-page draft of Mayor Sara Duterte’s executive order on GCQ released Thursday provides that the people are prohibited from going outside their houses within the duration of the new curfew hours.
Exempted are cases of emergencies and workers of offices, establishments and industries, as defined by the Department of Trade Industry Memorandum Circular 20-22.
The national task force is expected to come out with a decision Thursday on whether to extend the implementation of ECQ in the city.
In the task force’s Resolution No.
5, the entire Davao Region was classified as “moderate risk.” Areas under this classification can implement the GCQ where the exemption would be expanded to cover other business establishments and other government and private offices.
In her interview over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) 87.5 on Wednesday, Duterte said the curfew hours must be adjusted, so that limited public transport could serve the workers who are expected to return to work once the shift to GCQ is allowed by the national government.
“We will discuss the new curfew hours because most of the workers will return to work. They cannot go home,” she said at that time.
She added the new guidelines would be released only if the shift to GCQ is permitted by the national task force.
The mayor implemented a 15-day ECQ from April 4 to April 19, but extended it until April 26. Days before the second extension was to expire, the national government extended the ECQ for another 19 days, or until May 15, in areas considered “high risk”.
Based on Department of Trade Industry Memorandum Circular 20-22, industries under category I are allowed to resume on full operational capacity. These are agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; manufacturing and processing plants and the entire value chain of basic food products, essential products, medicine, and medical supplies; hospitals, medical clinics, and health clinics, subject to strict health standards and strict observance of infection prevention and control protocols;
retail establishments; laundry shops; food preparation establishments insofar as take-out and delivery services and water-refilling stations; logistics service providers; delivery services; power, energy, water, information technology and telecommunications; supplies and facilities, including waste disposal services, as well as property management and building utility services; electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply services;
water collection, treatment and supply; water collection, treatment and disposal activities, and materials recovery; sewerage; repair and installation of machinery and equipment; real estate activities; telecommunications; energy companies; gasoline stations; construction workers accredited by the Department of Public Works and Highways; and media establishments.
Category 2 industries that are allowed to resume up to 50% to full operational capacity include other manufacturing activities; mining and quarrying; electronic commerce companies; postal and courier and delivery services; export-oriented companies; essential public and private construction projects; repair of computers and personal household goods; housing service activities; office administrative, office support and other business activities; accommodation; funeral and embalming services; veterinary clinics; and security and investigation activities.
Establishments classified under Category 3 are allowed 50% work-on-site arrangement, work-from-home, and other alternative work arrangement. These are business process outsourcing companies; banks, money transfer services; microfinance, pawnshops, and credit cooperatives; capital markets, including but not limited to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Philippine Stock Exchange, Philippines Dealing and Exchange Corp., Philippine Securities Settlement Corporation, and Philippine Depository Trust Corp.;
other financial services such as money exchange, insurance, reinsurance, and pension funding, except compulsory social security; legal and accounting; management consultancy activities; architecture and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis; scientific and research development; computer programming; publishing and printing activities; motion picture, video and television program production, sound recording and music publishing activities;
rental and leasing activities, other than real estate; employment activities; other activities such as photography services, fashion, industrial, graphic, and interior design; malls and commercial centers; barbershops and salon; other non-leisure wholesale and retail establishments and activities such as wholesale, retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, and hardware stores, bookstores, baby care supplies stores and pet stores. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
