Davao City will be placed under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) starting 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 4 until 11:59 of April 19.
Mayor Sara Duterte yesterday signed Executive Order No. 23 providing for the guideline of the ECQ, citing the recommendation of the epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists.
“It becomes necessary to supplement existing community quarantine guidelines under the Executive Order 20-A Series of 2020 and impose stricter measures for this purpose,” the EO read.
The executive order mandates that all government offices must work from home and leave minimal employees to continue to work in offices except those involved in security, health, social services, sanitation, and disaster, “who must continue their work in full operation.”
All private establishments and offices are mandated to close except for the groceries, supermarkets, wet markets/palengkes, food commissaries, food processing or manufacturing, food delivery services, wholesale food outlets, convenience stores, sari-sari stores, hospitals, medical laboratories, pharmacies, drugstores, other health services/personnel, banks and ATMs, savings and credit cooperatives, money-transfer services, and bayad centers, courier services, other delivery services, doctor and dentist clinics, gas stations, water refilling stations, LPG stations, business process outsourcing/call centers, and mass media outlets.
“Whenever possible, skeletal workforce arrangement must be implemented and at all times physical distancing between employees must be observed,” it said.
Manufacturing, fabrication, and construction work “that is not pertinent to the public health emergency and state of calamity response should immediately cease operation.”
Workload of farms and the agri-business sector should also be reduced and extend their deadlines to significantly minimize laborers in the job site.
Ambulant food vendors who are using different modes of transportation to sell basic commodities in the barangays are allowed during the ECQ. But they should only sell basic commodities like rice, bread, meat, poultry, fish, fruits and vegetables, cooking oil, and other food condiments.
The executive order further effectively suspended mass transport, except those hired to work for the government or offices and businesses that are open during the ECQ. Private vehicles and taxis are allowed, provided there is only a driver, one passenger in the front and one passenger at the back, as well as tricycles with one driver and one passenger in the front and one passenger at the back.
Employee ID or the city government-issued food and medicine pass with valid ID must always be carried by individuals going out on the streets as law enforcement officers or barangay checkpoints may ask for their identification.
The executive order also reiterates that no alcohol drink or liquor shall be sold, served, or consumed in public, as the city observes the implementation of its liquor ban from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. Curfew hours, meanwhile, will continue from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The executive order also stressed that the food and medicine pass shall only be used to buy food, medicines, or go to hospitals. Two individuals can be named on the pass but only one person can use it at any given time.
“FM pass can only be used from the hours of 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” it said.
Minors, senior citizens, pregnant women, sick, and immuno-compromised individuals are not allowed to go out of their residences, except for hospital and medical-related reasons. They may be allowed to exercise or go out into the sun or get some fresh air as long as they are within a few meters of their houses.
Duterte said during her previous interview with the Davao City Disaster Radio on Wednesday that the ECQ will last only for two weeks.
“Hopefully, it will not be extended,” she said.
The city government already knows how to utilize the disaster funds amid the COVD-19 health crisis.
“Right now, we are currently using the peace and order fund and the crisis intervention fund of the city government of Davao. Because we are only in the month of March and I am sure there are still possible disasters ahead,” Duterte said.
They are still thinking if they will exhaust the disaster funds for COVID-19, which might be risky considering that there are other natural calamities the city may face for the rest of the year. For now, the remaining fund is around P96 million, following the African swine flu infestation that affected three barangays.
“God forbid, if there are emergencies, we will not have any sources,” Duterte said.
