Palace: Allowing all modes of transportation will ‘defeat purpose of quarantine’

MANILA, Philippines — As much as it understands the plight of commuters in going to work, to allow all modes of public transportation to operate while the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remains will only “defeat the purpose of quarantine,” Malacañang said Sunday.

In a statement, presidential spokesman Harry Roque added that commuters still need to consider that Metro Manila is still under a general community quarantine (GCQ).

“At this juncture, we still cannot let all modes of transportation to be on the streets. This will defeat the purpose of quarantine. Unless a vaccine or cure is available, we must not let our guards down,” he said.

As Metro Manila shifted to more relaxed quarantine measures on June 1, there have been reports of commuters having a hard time getting to their workplaces due to lack of public transportation.

The Department of Transportation previously said that the resumption of public transportation will be done in two phases.

For phase 1 covering June 1 to 21, trains and bus augmentation, taxis, transport network vehicle services (TNVS), shuttle services, point-to-point buses, public utility buses (PUBs), and bicycles will be allowed to operate but with limited passenger capacity.

Meanwhile, DOTr said that for phase 2 covering June 22 to 30, modern public utility vehicles (PUVs), and UV Express will be permitted to operate with limited passenger capacity, along with the initial set of transport modes that were allowed to run during Phase 1.

Roque added that daily assessments are being done on the transportation sector and that the government is “trying to do more in order to help everyone.”

“We also reiterate our appeal to the private sector to provide shuttle services to their employees.” the Palace spokesman said.

“What the administration is doing is balancing the need to revitalize the economy so that we can have livelihood and jobs while looking out for and protecting the health and safety of the public as well,” Roque added.

/MUF