City eases MECQ rules despite ‘junked appeal’

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas went ahead with his plan of reviving the economy by issuing a new executive order (EO) that appears to deviate once more from policies under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ).

Treñas issued EO No. 55 series of 2021 on July 1, 2021, extending the MECQ which started on May 23 and will run until July 15.

The EO was issued after the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) rejected Treñas’ appeal on June 29 to de-escalate to the more permissive General CQ (GCQ).

In a press conference at the Iloilo City Hall on Thursday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque cited the high level of the city’s Health Care Utilization Rate (HCUR) as the basis for the MECQ retention, despite lower frequencies of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.

The city’s HCUR, which refers to the rate of COVID-dedicated beds and mechanical ventilators used, was at 81.39 percent as of June 27, based on data by the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD).

Under the new EO, which is effective until July 15, 2021, the curfew was shortened to 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. of the next day.

The ban on public consumption of liquor has now been lifted, albeit with time limitation from 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., which is also the same window for the sale of liquor in stores.

In-place dining remains allowed, with in-door dine-in at 10 percent capacity, and al fresco or outdoor dining upgraded to 50 percent capacity from the previous 30 percent.

Several establishments, which had been previously prohibited, have also been allowed to reopen at 10 percent capacity:

– Outdoor sports courts or venues for non-contact sports, scrimmages, games, or activities;

– Indoor sports courts or venues for non-contact sports, scrimmages, games, or activities;

– Make-up salons;

– Medical aesthetic clinics;

– Cosmetic or dermatological clinics;

– Reflexology, aesthetics, wellness and holistic centers;

– Acupuncture and electrocautery establishments;

– Massage therapy including sports therapy establishments;

– Tanning services; and

– Body piercings, tattooing and similar services.

Another new provision is the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing and mandatory 14-day quarantine for close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients.

All close contacts will be obligated to undergo the 14-day quarantine whether or not their RT-PCR test results yield positive results. But if they do yield positive results, they will be subject to another RT-PCR test and will only be released if the later test shows negative results.

The following establishments remain closed under the current MECQ iteration:

– Entertainment venues with live performers such as karaoke bars, clubs, concert halls, theaters and cinemas;

– Recreational venues such as internet cafes (except insofar as catering to students for their online classes and requirements), billiard halls, amusement arcades, bowling alleys, and similar venues;

– Amusements parks such as theme parks, fairs/peryas, kid amusement industries such as playgrounds, playroom, and kiddie rides;

– Casinos, horse racing, cockfighting and operation of cockpits, lottery and betting shops, and other gaming establishments except for the draws conducted by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office;

– Indoor visitor or tourist attractions, libraries, archives, museums, galleries, and cultural shows and exhibits;

– Outdoor tourist attractions; and

– Venues for face-to-face meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions.

Other regulations imposed by the previous EO No. 53 series of 2021 also remained in place, such as the 30 percent capacity cap on religious services, 3-day limits on funeral wakes, and unhampered COVID-19 vaccination activities.

These new policies also come on the heels of previous communication by the Department of Interior and Local Government-Region 6 (DILG-6) calling out the city government for imposing regulations which are not in line with the IATF-MEID Omnibus Guidelines.

Section 5 of the IATF-MEID Omnibus Guidelines, which pertain to MECQ policies, do not permit in-place dining and prohibit the operation of wellness facilities.

The DILG-6 also said that city government officials who fail to implement MECQ policies under EO No. 53 would face administrative, civil, and criminal charges.

Roque explained that the power of the IATF-MEID to subject local governments was founded on the police power exercised by the president as stipulated in EO No. 168 series of 2014 issued by the late former President Benigno Aquino III.

But a quick review of the said EO invoked by Roque did not state the nature of the IATF-MEID to include community quarantine mandates.

Section 2 of the EO as published in the Official Gazette, enumerates the functions of the IATF-MEID as the following:

– Establish a system to identify, screen, and assist Filipinos suspected or confirmed to be infected with EID;

– Prevent and/or minimize the entry of suspected or confirmed patients with EID into the country. This should include rigid screening and identification of EID suspects, and the institutionalization of a surveillance, alert, and quarantine system in all ports of entry;

– Prevent and/or minimize the local spread of EID in the country through the establishment or reinforcement of a system in screening possible patients infected with EID, contact tracing, identification of the mode of exposure to the virus, and implementation of effective quarantine and proper isolation procedures;

– Prevent and/or minimize mortality through effective clinical management by capacitating healthcare facilities, government and private medical practitioners, healthcare workers, and-public safety enforcers;

– Educate the public on EID and its prevention, control and management to promote positive health behaviors, and address public fear and anxiety through the conduct of a nationwide EID awareness campaign;

– Adopt measures to strengthen the Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases Program of the DOH or its equivalent in other local health units;

– Notify the World Health Organization (WHO) of the EID cases in the country and its assessment of the EID situation;

– Submit to the Office of the President regular status reports in the monitoring of EID;

– Formulate, develop, implement, and oversee the EID Preparedness Manual for the prevention and control of EID; and

– Perform such other functions and activities as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Order, or as the President may direct.

Whether or not he would be called out again in relation to the new EO, Treñas only said, “Let’s just see.”