DTI: Employers can encourage workers to relocate in Metro Manila for now

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez. RENE LUMAWAG/PRESIDENTIAL FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — As the nation’s capital region was put under “community quarantine” and workers living in nearby provinces worry about work in Metro Manila, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) chief has offered an idea: Why not rent a place in the city for now?

DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez on Friday said that a “coping mechanism”, employers could “encourage” their workers to temporarily relocate while Metro Manila’s isolation due to COVID-19 is in effect.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, Lopez noted: “Isa rin pong nakikita namin coping mechanism dito, I’m sure ‘yung ibang kumpanya would just encourage their employees to find a place muna dito sa Metro Manila.”

(One coping mechanism that we see here is for companies to encourage their employees to find a place here in Metro Manila for the time being.)

“Umupa muna sila para less ang movement ng tao. Sa ganoong paraan din, malilimitahan ‘yung pasok labas ng mga tao dito sa Metro Manila,” he added.

(They could rent for now to lessen movement. In that way also, the entry of people in Metro Manila will be limited.)

President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) to place Metro Manila under community quarantine in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in late 2019 in Wuhan City, Hubei province in China.

The community quarantine will halt land, domestic air, and domestic sea travel to and from Metro Manila starting March 15, 2020 until April 14, 2020.

“Ito naman po ay mga pwedeng gawin ng kanilang employer na ang kusa nila na mag-upa ng kwarto d’yan, sagot nila, bed spacing. Kung gusto nilang matulungan ‘yung mga nagtatrabaho para sa kanila. Mga suggestions lang nito na pwede nilang gawin,” Lopez said. 

(This is what employers could initiate, to find their employees a space to rent. If they want to help those who work for them, this is what we suggest them to do.)

“Hindi naman lahat kailangan manggaling sa gobyerno. I think ‘yung mga negosyante, malalaki naman ‘yan na pwedeng tulungan ‘yung kanilang empleyado, ma-minimize lang ‘yung movement in and out ng mga workers,” he further said. 

(Not everything has to come from the government. I think the businessmen are capable of helping their employees, just so we could minimize the movement of the workers.)

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the IATF-EID will meet Friday afternoon to formulate the guidelines and other details of Duterte’s community quarantine – which he also later on called “lockdown” in his national address on Thursday night – order for Metro Manila.

Duterte, through the task force’s recommendation, has raised the public health alert from Code Red Sublevel 1 to Code Red Sublevel 2, which indicates the verification of COVID-19’s community transmission and prevalence beyond what the government can address.

As of Thursday, the Department of Health reported a total of 52 cases of COVID-19 and five fatalities from the disease.

KGA