Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte. (PNA file photo)
DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Duterte announced on Friday that the city would be placed under general community quarantine (GCQ) from May 16 until May 31 in adherence to the advisory of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
After being under an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for a month, the city will relax some of the lockdown measures to allow the reopening of business activities and offices, although the movement of residents remains restricted.
Mayor Sara has called on Dabawenyos to "manage their expectations" under GCQ and to remain cautious.
“It doesn’t mean that we are on GCQ, you can freely go out and have a good time partying. The same measures are there. The only difference is that more people can go back to their work and mass transport will be made available,” she said in a radio interview.
Mayor Sara also released Executive Order (EO) 33, which underscores some movement restrictions, curfew hours, and the use of the food and medicine (FM) pass under the GCQ.
“We remove the clustering because many workers are going out now. But we will still implement the FM pass and the new curfew will be 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Liquor ban is still in effect 24 hours until the quarantine (is) lifted,” she added.
Mayor Sara also told the Dabawenyos that wet markets would only be available up to 5 p.m. to enable authorities to conduct disinfection.
Despite the lifting of the clustering of barangays, she advised the public to avoid areas categorized as Covid-19 "risk areas”.
“A list of these risk areas will be published for information dissemination,” Mayor Sara said.
Under the new EO, private and public utility vehicles will still be mandated to practice physical distancing, while the local government's free bus rides will remain in operation.
“All passengers in public and private transports are still required to present GCQ-exempted employee ID or FM pass while private vehicle drivers are also required to present employee ID or certification from the employer and a photocopy or mobile phone photo of the employer’s ID,” she added.
The EO also bars anyone from going out of his/her residence without the FM pass.
Employees who are allowed to resume work, meanwhile, are those specified under the latest Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) directive.
In general, Mayor Sara said the IATF-EID directive on GCQ rules and guidelines have been adopted for local enforcement. (PNA)
