Media Release:
MEMORANDUM FROM THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
TO: HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES, OFFICES AND INSTRUMENTALITIES OF THE GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT-OWNED OR –CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS (GOCCs), GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (GFIs), STATE UNVERSITIES AND COLLEGES (SUCs) AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS (LGUs)
SUBJECT: COMMUNITY QUARANTINE OVER THE ENTIRE LUZON AND FURTHER GUIDELINES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) SITUATION
DATE: 16 March 2020
Pursuant to Proclamation Nos. 929 and 922 (s. 2020) and Republic Act No. 11332, following the sharp increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases throughout the country, all heads of departments, agencies, offices and instrumentalities of the government, including the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), GOCCs, GFIs, SUCs and LGUs are hereby directed to adopt, coordinate and implement the guidelines on the imposition of an Enhanced Community Quarantine and the Stringent Social Distancing Measures over the entire Luzon, including the National Capital Region (NCR), effective 00:00 (12 a.m.) of 17 March 2020 and expiring on 00:00 (12 a.m.) of 13 April 2020. Therefore, the following shall be implemented:
1. Classes and all school activities in all levels shall continue to be suspended until 14 April 2020 and shall resume on 15 April 2020. The same directives to the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and such other regulatory agencies, LGUs and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) with respect to the class suspension are reiterated;
2. Mass gatherings shall be prohibited;
3. A strict home quarantine shall be observed in all households; movement shall be limited to accessing basic necessities; provision for food and essential health services shall be regulated; and there will be heightened presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures;
4. A work from home arrangement shall be implemented in the Executive branch, except the PNP, AFP, PCG, and health and emergency frontline services, border control and other critical services, which shall ensure a skeletal work force;
5. Only those private establishments providing basic necessities and such activities related to food and medicine production, i.e., public markets, supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies and drug stores, food preparation and delivery services, water-refilling stations, manufacturing and processing plants of basic food products and medicines, banks, money transfer services, power, energy, water and telecommunications supplies and facilities, shall be open;
In all such open establishments, their respective managements shall ensure the adoption of a strict skeletal workforce to support operations, as well as all strict social distancing measures;
Business Process Outsourcing establishments and export-oriented industries shall remain operational, subject to the condition that strict social distancing measures are observed, their respective personnel are provided, appropriate temporary accommodation arrangements by 18 March 2020, and that a skeletal work force shall be implemented;
Media personnel shall be allowed to travel within the quarantine area, provided that within seventy-two (72) hours from the issuance of this Memorandum, media personnel intending to travel within the quarantine area shall secure an identification card from the Presidential Communications Operations Office;
For purposes of the foregoing, transit to and from the above establishments anywhere within the area covered by the Enhanced Community Quarantine shall be allowed. Security personnel of the same establishments shall likewise be allowed to travel within the quarantine area;
6. Mass public transport facilities shall be suspended; and
7. Land, air and sea travel shall be restricted;
Outbound passengers intending to depart the Philippines from any of the international airports in Luzon shall be allowed to travel for a period of seventy-two (72) hours from effectivity of the Enhanced Community Quarantine.
Inbound international passengers, in transit upon effectivity of the Enhanced Community Quarantine, shall be allowed entry, subject to applicable quarantine procedures if coming from countries with existing travel restrictions imposed by the IATF.
All inbound Filipino citizens including their foreign spouse and children, if any, holders of Permanent Resident Visa, and holders of 9(e) Diplomat Visas issued by the Philippine Government shall be allowed entry, subject to applicable quarantine procedures if coming from countries with existing travel restrictions imposed by the IATF.
The movement of cargoes within, to and from the entire Luzon shall be unhampered. For this purpose, guidelines for the accompanying crew or personnel of transiting cargoes…(To be updated)
Featured image of Malacanang Palace courtesy of Wikipedia Commons (By Official Gazette of the Philippines – File:Malacañang Palace.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49192933)