Palace: Policy on eased distance among PUV passengers up for IATF review

MANILA, Philippines — The government’s COVID-19 task force will review the easing of physical distancing inside public vehicles after medical experts warned it may cause a surge in COVID-19 cases, Malacañang said Monday.

“’Yung pagbabawas ng space o espasyo between passengers, inapruban po ‘yan ng IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases] dahil hindi natin mabubuksan ang ekonomiya kung hindi po natin dadagdagan ‘yung ating transportasyon,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an online briefing.

(The reduction of space between passengers was approved by the IATF because we can’t reopen the economy without additional transportation.)

“Pero syempre po, hindi naman tayo magbibingi-bingihan sa mga opinyon ng ating mga medical frontliners. Bubuksan po uli ang usapin tungkol dito sa bukas po, sa susunod na meeting ng IATF,” he added.

(But of course, we cannot play deaf to the opinions of medical frontliners. This will be discussed again tomorrow, in the next IATF meeting.)

Starting Monday, the one-meter physical distancing rule was reduced to 0.75 meters to help the public transport sector recover from the slump caused by lockdown measures.

Physical distancing in public vehicles will further shrink to 0.5 meters on September 28 and 0.3 meters on October 12, according to the Department of Transportation.

The move was met with opposition from various sectors, including medical experts who warned that the measure was risky and could lead to an increase in virus transmission.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año himself said he would prefer the deployment of additional public utility vehicles instead of reducing the measurement of the distance between passengers.