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Metro Manila will be under longer curfew hours from 8pm to 4am starting August 6 when it shifts into enhanced community quarantine
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Authorized Persons Outside Their Residences will be required to present IATF IDs or other IDs or pertinent documentation when passing through checkpoints, or quarantine control points (QCP), within Metro Manila
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The Philippine National Police is reminded to allow cargo/delivery vehicles to move freely across all QCPs
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Number coding will remain suspended this August
Metro Manila will be under longer curfew hours from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. starting August 6 when it shifts into enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), according to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Benhur Abalos.
The new curfew hours is a unanimous decision of Metro Manila mayors, Abalos said during a press briefing on August 2.
Metro Manila will be under ECQ, the strictest lockdown, from August 6 to August 20. Currently, curfew in Metro Manila is from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. while it remains under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until August 5.
READ: NCR under ECQ from Aug 6 to 20
The heightened quarantine status follows appeal of the Metro Manila Council, which is composed of Metro Manila mayors, to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to impose stricter measures in the metropolis following discovery of local transmission of the Delta variant in the country.
Under ECQ, only Authorized Persons Outside Their Residences (APOR) will be allowed to travel into and out of the NCR Plus Area, which includes the neighboring provinces of Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, and Rizal.
In a separate statement, Interior and Local Government undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said those considered APOR should present to police authorities manning quarantine control points (QCP) in Metro Manila any of the following: IATF IDs issued by regulatory agencies; valid IDs or pertinent documentation issued by establishments allowed to operate under the current quarantine classification; and other proof or evidence that purpose of travel is allowed.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said QCPs manned by law enforcement agencies will be placed within Metro Manila during the ECQ period.
APORs under the IATF’s omnibus guidelines include the following:
- Health and emergency frontline services and uniformed personnel
- Government officials and employees on official travel
- Duly authorized relief and humanitarian assistance actors
- Persons travelling for medical or humanitarian reasons
- Persons going to and from the airport
- Anyone crossing zones for work in permitted industries
- Public utility vehicle operators.
The DILG earlier said those who are not APORs will not be allowed to pass QCPs and will be asked to return to their homes.
Cargo movement
Malaya, meanwhile, reminded the Philippine National Police to allow the free movement of cargo/delivery vehicles across all QCPs because these are important to the economy.
“Secretary [Eduardo] Año has instructed all QCPs to allow the unimpeded movement of cargo trucks and delivery vehicles especially those carrying food items across all our checkpoints,” Malaya said.
Under the IATF omnibus guidelines, movement of all types of cargoes via land, air, and sea should remain unhampered within and across areas placed under any form of community quarantine. Likewise, workers in the logistics sector, such as those in cargo, trucking, courier delivery and port operations, should be allowed to transit within and across these areas.
In a separate statement, meanwhile, MMDA said the number coding scheme will remain suspended this August, and the transportation of essential goods and travel to establishments or activities allowed by IATF guidelines will still be allowed.