Church services allowed at 50% seating capacity

Churches may now hold religious services at 50-percent seating capacity in areas under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Thursday, quoting the decision on mass gatherings issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

“It would have been easier to simply follow the Department of Health’s protocol of maintaining a 1-meter physical distance from each other inside the church,” said Fr. Jerome Secillano of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines public affairs committee.

Under present IATF-EID guidelines, a maximum of 10 people can join religious activities in general community quarantine (GCQ) areas, and five in modified enhanced community quarantine areas.

But the IATF-EID said that persons below 21 and above 60, those with health risks, and pregnant women, should still “remain in their residences at all times” in MGCQ areas, except if they have to work or access essential goods and services.

Hotels can operate

The IATF has also allowed accredited hotels and similar establishments in MGCQ areas to operate with a certificate of authority from the Department of Tourism. Included are inns, motels, pension houses, serviced apartments, ecolodges, condominiums, and bed and breakfast facilities.

Dine-in restaurants, fast food and food retail shops in supermarkets, grocery stores and food preparation establishments in MGCQ areas can also operate at 50 percent seating capacity, the IATF-EID said.

Range shooting is now among outdoor sports allowed in both GCQ and MGCQ areas, while limited face-to-face or in-person classes are also allowed as long as there is strict compliance with health guidelines issued by the Commission on Higher Education and local government units. —With a report from Julie M. Aurelio