MANILA, Philippines – Local government officials in Metro Manila are barred from traveling abroad while the National Capital Region (NCR) is under a community quarantine due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.
“All local government officials are prohibited from traveling outside the country in the next 30 days to ensure that they are hands-on in fighting COVID in their respective localities,” DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement.
“During the community quarantine period where Stringent Social Distancing Measure is being implemented, all provincial governors and mayors of highly urbanized cities as well as Senators and Congressmen are free to travel to and out of Metro Manila in the performance of their official functions. Mayors of component cities and municipalities may be allowed to enter Metro Manila subject to approval of this Department on a case-to-case basis,” he added.
Aside from the travel ban, Año also announced that the second round of road clearing operations has been suspended — all in order for local government units (LGUs) to remain focused on combating the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Considering the ongoing measures being implemented to prevent the spread of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the 75-day road clearing operations of LGUs nationwide that began on February 17, 2020 is suspended starting today and shall resume upon the issuance of an advisory by the DILG,” he explained.
“Suspending the second round of road clearing operations would ensure that local chief executives (LCEs) will be able to focus all their efforts in fighting COVID-19 in compliance with the guidelines of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) approved by the President,” he added.
The road clearing operations started last July 2019, after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered DILG to penalize local governments that would not help in reducing traffic and opening congested roads.
Año said that 40,000 police officers have been deployed to various checkpoints in Metro Manila to assist the LGUs.
“We assure the public of the sufficiency of uniformed police and military officers who will man checkpoints around Metro Manila. They shall follow all lawful protocols in manning checkpoints and are advised to be courteous but firm in performing their duties,” he said.
Last Friday, Duterte announced that Metro Manila will be placed in a community quarantine starting Sunday due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the region. Currently, there are 111 people in the Philippines who have turned positive for COVID-19, while eight have died.
Across the globe, there are over 152,000 persons infected, with 5,801 individuals already dead. Most of the incidents and the casualties came from China, the virus’ place of origin.