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OLD NORMAL As mass transit expands operations to accommodate more passengers on Monday, the LRT 1 passenger line becomes familiarly long at the Taft Avenue station in Manila. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines – The mayors of Metro Manila want the metropolis to remain under general community quarantine until the end of the year because there is no need to ease current restrictions as the government is already allowing a gradual reopening of businesses.
José Arturo García, general manager of the Manila Metropolitan Development Authority, told a news conference on Monday that it did not matter whether the current restrictions were maintained or relaxed as long as the country adjusted certain measures and respected public health standards.
Garcia, however, said the mayors’ recommendation would depend on the trend of coronavirus infection in Metro Manila.
“Mayors want to reopen the economy, but only gradually. It would be difficult for them if we only apply adjustments when we are subjected [modified general community quarantine] with full capacities in the establishments ”, he said.
Rules already provided
In Malacañang, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said that even if current restrictions were maintained, certain rules had already been relaxed to allow more companies to resume operations.
The recent reduction in restrictions was due to a downward trend in coronavirus infections and the need to allow people to work for a living, Roque said.
“It is a combination of the fact that the indicators are improving and the fact that the reality is that there is a need for employment, because as long as we remain closed there will be no livelihoods for many of our compatriots,” he said.
But the decision on the Metro mayors’ recommendation, he said, would depend on the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the government body for formulating policies in response to the coronavirus.
Regarding the adjustment of the mayors’ curfew and the changes in their policy of staying at home for minors and the elderly, Roque said that they were already considered approved rules, since a resolution of the working group allowed them to establish curfew and age limits for vulnerable people who may be allowed out.
During the Metro Manila Council meeting on Sunday, Garcia said mayors agreed to adjust the age limit for minors who can go out from 15 to 18 and retained 65 for the elderly.
Work shifts
Garcia noted that 18-year-olds were allowed to work, while younger ones can go out just for pleasure.
He said mayors wanted to minimize leisure activities that didn’t help power the economy, such as wandering through shopping malls and loitering on the streets.
Also on Monday, Commerce Secretary Ramón López said the government would encourage companies to introduce work shifts that allow their employees to start and finish work at different times, which would ease congestion on the roads.
López said the Department of Commerce and Industry had allowed 95 percent of businesses to reopen in areas under general community quarantine.
“We will publish a circular to encourage companies to apply staggered shifts. This means that there will be different office hours so we can distribute the number of commuters. [and driving] to work and need transportation, “he said.
“So this means that there will be companies that would start their work at 7 in the morning, there would be those who would start at 8, 9, 10, 11 and so on,” he added.
López said the government would let companies decide their work shifts, which would be in addition to flexible work hours and work-from-home arrangements.
–With reports from Leila B. Salaverria and Roy Stephen C. Canivel
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