‘No quarantine period coverage restrictions for duly accredited media personnel’

MANILA, Philippines — Members of the media are not prohibited from travelling and covering stories even amid the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

According to a Malacañang memorandum on the measure’s guidelines, media personnel may travel within the quarantine duration as long as they secure identification cards from the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

Media personnel have until March 21, 2020 to get their passes from the PCOO-International Press Center (IPC).

“The provisional period of 72 hours granted to media personnel to continue operating in Luzon is hereby extended until March 21, 2020. Thereafter, only those who bear the IATF accreditation ID as issued by the PCOO may be exempted from the strict home quarantine requirement,” the memorandum stated.

While media personnel have yet to acquire their IDs from PCOO, Philippine National Police (PNP) Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said Thursday they may present their company ID or company certificate along checkpoints.

“Kung sakali man talaga na kinapos at napadaan kayo sa ating mga control points, maaari po ninyong ipakita ang inyong company ID at ang inyo pong certificate, company certificate na kayo po ay otorisado ng inyong company na kayo po ay lumabas at kumuha ng mga reports sa field,” Banac said in a press briefing.

(Should the IDs have yet to be issued and you pass by the control points, you may present your company ID or your company certificate that you are authorized by your company to go out and gather reports from the field.)

“Ipakita po ito sa ating mga kapulisan doon sa naka-duty sa mga control points at ipaliwanag na lang po ninyo ang inyong situation dahil talagang ginagawan pa rin naman ng paraan nang lahat ay mabigyan talaga ng kaniya-kaniyang IDs,” Banac added.

(Present this to the police who are on duty at the control points and explain your situation that the distribution of IDs is still being processed.)

To apply for the issuance of IDs, a letter of request from media organizations and a passport-size photo of staffers must be sent to PCOO-IPC.

Prior to March 21 and the issuance of the IDs from IPC, PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar said media personnel may still use their bonafide media IDs issued by their respective organizations.

“In the meantime, all bonafide media IDs will be honored by the Philippine National Police,” Andanar earlier said.

The enhanced community quarantine will take effect until midnight of April 13, 2020.

This means “strict home quarantine shall be implemented in all households; transportation shall be suspended; provision for food and essential services shall be regulated; and heightened presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures will be implemented.”

GSG