MANILA, Philippines— The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Thursday insisted that the Pasig City local government cannot be allowed to field tricycles while the enhanced community quarantine over Luzon is being enforced.
The DILG urged Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto to instead look at the other means being used by other local government units in transporting their respective health workers.
“We respect the opinion of mayor Vico Sotto in Pasig ngunit pasensya na po mayor hindi po talaga namin kayo pwedeng pagbigyan,” DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said Thursday in a press briefing.
(We respect the opinion of mayor Vico Sotto in Pasig but we’re sorry, we cannot allow you to do that.)
“Kasi po if we allow mass transportation in Pasig…magrerequest na po ang lahat. Pag ginawa po natin yan, we give an exemption, it will defeat the entire purpose of the quarantine,” he added.
(Because if we allow mass transportation in Pasig, everybody else will also request for the same exemption. If we do that, we give an exemption, it will defeat the entire purpose of the quarantine.)
All modes of mass transportation have been suspended after the government implemented an enhanced community quarantine in the entire region of Luzon to limit the public’s movement to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
But Sotto asked the national government to exempt tricycles from the mass transportation ban to ferry health workers and patients while the strict quarantine measure is in place.
Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases Spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles earlier said the government is not keen on allowing tricycles to operate citing the lack of space for social distancing.
Sotto, however, reasoned that Pasig City is proposing that there should only be a maximum of two passengers aboard a tricycle. This way, he said, social distancing will be observed.
Under the Local Government Code (LGC), the power to regulate the operations of tricycles within their jurisdictions has been delegated to local government units (LGU).
Malaya said Pasig City should look at how other local governments cater to the needs of frontline workers.
“Kung ang purpose natin ay health workers, sana po tignan ng lungsod ng Pasig yung ginawa ng ibang lungsod. For example sa Paranaque, humiram sila ng bus mula sa Okada at sa City of Dreams at sa Solaire. Yung lahat ng bus na ito, gumawa sila ng ruta. Dun nila pinapasakay yung kanilang mga health workers,” Malaya said.
(If it’s for the sake of the health workers, I hope Pasig City looks at what other cities have implemented. Parañaque borrowed buses from Okada, City of Dreams and Solaire. All these buses have its own routes and this is what their health workers use.)
Sotto earlier noted that only tricycles can enter narrow streets when an emergency situation comes.
He added that he is only giving the national government an idea of what they see on the ground, and clarified that Pasig City is not defying the measures it has put in place.