City, province veering away from IATF rules, DILG-6 says

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

The Department of Interior and Local Government-Region 6 (DILG-6) on Thursday said that the latest Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) regulations by the city and province of Iloilo were not in line with national guidance.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas on Tuesday issued Executive Order (EO) No. 53 series of 2021 while Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. on Wednesday released EO No. 200 series of 2021, detailing the city and province’s respective MECQ guidelines.

Both edicts cited the Omnibus Guidelines by the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) and Memorandum Circular No. 21-15 by the Department of Trade and Industry.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday announced the IATF-MEID’s decision placing both city and the province under MECQ due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Daily Guardian has reached out to the two chief executives. Treñas declined interviews citing poor health while Defensor has yet to respond as of this writing.

But DILG-6 Legal Counsel Atty. Cedric Jaranilla told Daily Guardian that Treñas’ EO 53 deviated from the latest iteration of the IATF-MEID’s Omnibus Guidelines as of May 20, 2021, particularly provisions on Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms, indoor dine-in services, commissaries, and beauty parlors.

Jaranilla said that Defensor’s EO was “similarly situated” in so far as in-place dining provisions were concerned.

He said the DILG-6 had sent the two local executives letters saying that the EO provisions the agency called out were “somehow violating” Section 3 of the omnibus guidelines.

Section 13(C) of Iloilo City’s EO No. 53 s. 2021 includes BPO firms in the list of establishments allowed to operate at 30 percent capacity or flexible work arrangements, while Section 2(4) of the Omnibus Guidelines allows them to operate on full capacity under MECQ and the “stricter” ECQ.

Section 2 of Iloilo province’s E.O. 200 s. 2021, meanwhile follows the IATF-MEID guidance in allowing BPOs to operate on full capacity.

As to in-place dining services, both the city and province allow indoor dining and commissaries up to 10 percent. As to alfresco or outdoor dining, the city allows 30 percent while the province is at 50 percent capacity.

The only difference between the two EOs is for barber shops, beauty salons, and nail spas, which the city allows up to 30 percent capacity while the province continued to prohibit such industries from operating.

Indoor dining, commissaries, and beauty salons and parlors, barber shops, and nail spas are all prohibited by Section 3 of the IATF-MEID guidelines, but are allowed up to 30 percent according to DTI MC 21-15.

Section 3, which details the guidelines for areas under the MECQ, also prohibits the following establishments:

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

– Recreational venues such as internet cafes, billiard halls, amusement arcades, bowling alleys, and similar venues;

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

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

– Indoor sports courts or venues, fitness studios, gyms, spas or other indoor leisure centers or facilities, and swimming pools;

– 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;

– Venues for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions;

– Personal care services which include medical aesthetic clinics, cosmetic or derma clinics, make-up salons, reflexology, aesthetics, wellness, and holistic centers, and other similar establishments; acupuncture and electrocautery establishments, and massage therapy including sports therapy establishments, tanning services, body piercings, tattooing, and similar services, with home service for these activities also not permitted.

Jaranilla said the DTI had clarified to them that its MCs on community quarantine restrictions on establishments had also been superseded by the IATF-MEID guidelines due to their dates of issuance.

DTI MC 21-15 was issued on April 30, 2021, while the latest IATF-MEID Omnibus Guidelines was issued on May 20, 2021.

“As a matter of protocol, the Omnibus Guidelines are supreme. This was also confirmed by the [DTI], that their MC as cited by the local government units, was already superseded by the guidelines, because the guidelines were dated May 20, 2021, while the DTI MCs were issued on April and May but earlier than that,” Jaranilla said in a phone interview.

He said that they had proposed to the local government units (LGUs) to seek the approval of the national IATF-MEID in enforcing their EOs via their regional counterparts.

DILG-6 Regional Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero serves as the chairperson of the Regional IATF-MEID, which also has other regional offices of national government agencies as members.

He cited several LGUs in Luzon which he said had previously succeeded with asking the national body to loosen restrictions in their area.

“Notwithstanding that there are IATF-MEID guidelines, but there have been cases in Luzon that there were relaxes upon proper request by the LGU, because there had been economic and labor concerns if there were total closures. They can request through the regional IATF-MEID,” he said.

He added that the RIATF-MEID was “very open” to discuss the EOs with the local chief executives.

“Although we have restrictions, these are not remedies. The [national] government is not insensitive or sadist to the needs of the people. The RIATF-MEID is always meeting with local chief executives for updates and their requests. We understand our governors and mayors that they have to act immediately, but maybe sometimes they may have lapses in judgment, which we can ultimately solve together,” he said.

Jaranilla also warned that there was an “open possibility” of administrative, criminal, and civil charges against responsible officials if the city and the province continue to enforce the EOs and ignore the DILG-6’s warnings.

He said the DILG central office, which has been furnished copy of the letters sent to the mayor and the governor, will take note of the violations, and may even choose to open an investigation or just come up with advice to revise the EOs.

Jaranilla cited as example two village chiefs in Aklan who had been charged for violation of the prohibition on public gatherings.

“The national government found before violations in events of Social Amelioration Programs, and actually recently there were two village chiefs in Aklan who had cases filed against them because of the prohibition on mass gatherings. Those officials’ acts were in violation of the IATF-MEID guidelines. I will not say definitely that charges will be filed against them, but that will depend on the national government,” he said.