DTI on Metro Manila lockdown: Postpone weddings or limit guests

MANILA, Philippines — Couples who have set their weddings within the duration of Metro Manila’s community quarantine may opt to either postpone them or limit the number of guests to observe social distancing.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez gave this advice after President Rodrigo Duterte approved the imposition of community quarantine on Metro Manila to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The community quarantine bars land, domestic air, and domestic sea travel to and from Metro Manila from March 15, 2020 to April 14, 2020.

“Ako tingin ko yung kasal, hindi mo mapipigilan ang pag-ibig. Bawasan na lang nila yung guests. Pero yung social distancing, kailangan ma-observe,” Lopez said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

(Love cannot be stopped. I advise they reduce the number of guests. But the social distancing still has to be observed.)

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said he would prefer that couples just postpone their weddings instead.

“Timeless and boundless naman ang pag-ibig (Love is timeless and boundless). What is a one-month postponement for love?” Nograles said in the same press briefing.

Couples who would decide to cancel their weddings should not worry about refunds, Lopez assured.

“Meron din po kasing tanong, ‘paano yun, magcacancel sila ng mga binook nila na hotel, restaurant?’ Dapat po may refund,” Lopez said.

(There are questions about what if they cancel their bookings for hotels and restaurants? There should be a refund.)

“So wag sila matakot, ‘Nako, paano ‘to, nag-down na kami tapos ayaw i-refund,’ pwede po sila mag-file ng complaint sa DTI, consumer complaint 1384 hotline. Papanigan po sila ng DTI para magrefund yung establishment,” he added.

(They shouldn’t be scared, saying ‘what will we do, they don’t want to refund our downpayment?’ They can filed a complaint with the DTI’s consumer complaint hotline 1384. The DTI will side with them to get a refund from establishments.)

When the community quarantine starts on March 15, mass gatherings would be prohibited.

Nograles said these include “concerts, large seminars and conventions, sporting events and social gatherings.”

To date, the Philippines has 52 confirmed cases of COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus that first emerged in Wuhan City in China’s Hubei province in late 2019.

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses identified the new coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.

The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.

Edited by MUF