‘THROWBACK?’: Iloilo City mayor issues COVID travel edict anew

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Questions arose Monday after Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas issued a new executive order reinstating travel protocols addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) without any prior pronouncements on the virus’ spread and despite dismantling a dedicated COVID-19 team last week.

Treñas issued Executive Order No. 37, Series of 2023 on Monday, March 20, which places the city under Alert Level 1 for COVID-19.

The EO requires fully vaccinated individuals, including minors, who want to enter the city to present either their vaccination card, vaccination certificate obtained through the national government’s VaxCert portal, or a document issued by competent foreign authorities certifying that they are fully vaccinated, and a valid government-issued identification document (ID).

Partially vaccinated and unvaccinated adults, meanwhile, must present a valid government-issued ID and a negative result via RT-PCR testing taken within 72 hours (or 3 full days) prior to their scheduled date of travel.

These requirements for all COVID vaccination statuses will be presented to carriers (airlines and sea vessels) upon check-in at their port of departure (airports or seaports).

These documents will no longer be presented upon the passengers’ arrival, but they are mandated to isolate themselves and undergo RT-PCR testing as soon as possible.

Unvaccinated minor children must follow quarantine protocols based on the vaccination status of their adult companions.

Aside from these travel requirements, all activities and events in the city are allowed to operate at full venue capacity, subject to engineering and disinfection regulations under the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

When asked by Daily Guardian, Treñas did not make express statements as to the necessity of the new issuance.

“We comply [with national COVID rules] but we try to be as lenient as possible – reopen ta na economy,” he said in a text message.

Before this, the last COVID-19 EO published on the mayor’s official Facebook page was EO No. 54, series of 2022, dated June 1, 2022, prior to the start of his second fresh term.

Iloilo City had been under Alert Level 1 for COVID for more than a year now, with the de-escalation announced on March 11, 2022, under the Duterte administration.

A city government official also explained to the media that this was simply an implementation of IATF Resolution No. 5-B issued last March 15, which set the city’s COVID Alert Level status.

The resolution also places other areas in Western Visayas under Alert Level 1, including Bacolod City, Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, and Iloilo Province, as well as the Antique towns of Anini-y, Barbaza, San Jose de Buenavista, Sebaste, and Tobias Fornier.

The rest of Antique and the entire province of Negros Occidental, however, are placed under Alert Level 2.

Data from the Iloilo City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit as of March 18 indicated that the city has had a total of 36,139 COVID cases from 2020 to 2023, with a 98 percent recovery rate (35,420 total recoveries) and 1 percent fatality rate (712 total deaths).

Of these figures, only 86 cases have been logged so far in 2023, with only 6 active cases, 78 recoveries, and 2 deaths.