Local government units in NCR are moving full steam ahead on the implementation of the new policy on localized quarantine measures to help curb COVID-19 infection approved by the IATF starting September 16.
The Local Government Academy (LGA) and the DILG-NCR assisted Metro Manila mayors and local officials in preparing to implement this new strategy through an online interfacing called LISTONG UGNAYAN, COVID-19 AY LABANAN: Unwrapping the Alert Levels System for NCR via Zoom teleconferencing.
This platform, according to LGA Executive Director Thelma Vecina, is an avenue for the LGUs and the public to share good practices in responding to the pandemic.
More than 400 officials and staff from the national government agencies, regional line agencies, DILG regional and field offices, and local government units participated in the activity, which aimed to orient them on the elements and processes of managing and implementing the alert levels system and imposing granular lockdowns.
The improved policy focuses on more strategic and localized implementation of intensified quarantine measures where new lockdowns will now be declared by provincial governors and city and municipal mayors, which will last for 14 days after ratification by the respective Regional Interagency Task Force on the Management of
Emerging Infectious Diseases (RIATF).
The Department of Health reports that NCR remains the top region relative to new cases of the virus despite strict quarantine measures implemented over the past weeks.
Since the current COVID-19 infection rate is still worrisome and given the presence of the Delta variant in the country, the policy shift guides LGUs on assessing and determining the need for localized or granular lockdowns within their respective areas of responsibility. This strategy takes into consideration the need to balance the goal of reducing outbreaks with the need to slowly reopen the economy.
In areas under granular lockdown, LGUs will provide food packs on the first seven days, while the Department of Social Welfare and Development will come in to provide food packs for the remaining seven days.
Meanwhile, the new guidelines also provides the list of businesses that may open and their allowed maximum capacity under each alert level. These establishments are allowed to operate provided that their staff are fully vaccinated.
Establishments that have the Safety Seal Certification shall be allowed to operate at an additional 10 percentage points beyond the prescribed on-site, venue capacity.
DILG Undersecretary for Operations, Epimaco V. Densing III remarked that should the policy shift be proven effective in stabilizing the number of cases in the next two weeks, the measure will then be implemented nationwide.
The need to be BIDA ang may Disiplina was also emphasized. DILG-NCR Regional Director Maria Lourdes Agustin said that the public must still strictly adhere to minimum public health standards of wearing masks and face shields, practicing physical distancing, and getting vaccinated as soon as possible.
She further enjoined everyone in government to work together to boost the messaging of the government’s efforts and the public’s critical role in battling this crisis.
This meeting is a follow through to the levelling off session with Metro Manila barangays last September 11 attended by some 1,900 barangay officials via Zoom and Facebook Live. #