Philippines: New MECQ Guidelines issued by the IATF; IPOPHL re-opens on May 25

Term [3]

Definition

Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ)

The “transition phase between Enhanced Community Quarantine (“ECQ”) and General Community Quarantine (“GCQ”), when these temporary measures are relaxed: stringent limiting movement and transportation of people, strict regulation of operating industries, provision of food and essential services, and heightened presence of uniformed personnel to enforce community quarantine protocols become less necessary.”

New Normal

The “emerging behaviors, situations, and minimum public health standards that will be institutionalized in common or routine practices and remain even after the pandemic while the disease is not totally eradicated through means such as widespread immunization. These include actions that will become second nature to the general public as well as policies such as bans on large gatherings that will continue to remain in force.”

Operational Capacity

“[S]uch a maximum number of employees or workers who can be permitted or required to physically report to work on-site in a particular office or establishment.”

Skeleton Workforce

The “operational capacity which utilizes the smallest number of people needed for a business or organization to maintain its basic function.”

Operational Capacities of Establishments Allowed to Operate under MECQ

(Note: All descriptions of businesses below are quoted directly from the IATF Omnibus Guidelines.)

Full Operational Capacity

· Media establishments

· Establishments involved in production of cement and steel

· BPOs and export-oriented establishments without need to set up on-site or near-site accommodation arrangements

· Mining and quarrying

· E-commerce companies

· Postal, courier, delivery services

· Rental and leasing, other than real estate, such as vehicles and equipment for permitted sectors

· Employment activities that involves the recruitment and placement for permitted sectors

· Repair of computers, personal and household goods

· Housing services activities

· Agriculture, forestry, fishery and such other components of food value chain

· Manufacturers of medicines, medical supplies, devices and equipment

50% Operational Capacity, While Encouraging Work-From-Home and Other Flexible Work Arrangement

· Manufacturing and processing plants of basic food products (operational capacity may be increased as may be authorized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI))

· Other manufacturing industries (e.g., beverages including alcohol drinks, wood products and furniture, non-metallic products, textiles and clothing, tobacco products, paper and paper products, rubber and plastic products, coke and refined petroleum products, other non-metallic products, computers, electronic, and optical products, electrical equipment, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, other transport equipment, and others)

· Real estate and leasing activities

· Administrative and office support (e.g., photocopying and billing services)

· Other financial services (e.g., money exchange, insurance, microfinance and credit cooperatives, reinsurance and non-compulsory pension funding)

· Legal and accounting services

· Management and consultancy services or activities

· Architectural and engineering activities including technical testing and analysis

· Science and technology, and research and development

· Recruitment and placement agencies for overseas employment

· Advertising and market research

· Computer programming and information management services

· Publishing and printing services

· Film, music, and television production

· Photography, fashion and industrial, graphic and interior design

· Wholesale and retail trade of vehicles and their parts and components, whether such vehicles be fuel, electric, or human powered

· Repair and maintenance of vehicles as defined in the immediately preceding provision as well as its parts or components

· Malls and commercial centers, subject to DTI guidelines

· Dining and restaurants (delivery and take-out only)

· Hardware stores

· Clothing and accessories

· Bookstore and school and office supplies

· Baby or infant care supplies

· Pet food and pet care supplies

· Information technology, communications and electronic equipment

· Flower, jewelry, novelty, antique and perfume shops

· Toy stores (playgrounds, if any, shall be closed)

· Firearms and ammunition trading establishments, subject to strict regulation of the Firearms and Explosives Office

· Pastors, priests, rabbi, imams, and other religious ministers providing home religious services to households

With Skeleton Workforce Only

· Government agencies and instrumentalities, Local Government Units

· Officials and employees of foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations accredited by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)

· Private establishment and their employees providing essential goods and services (e.g. public markets, groceries, convenience stores, laundry shops, water-refilling stations, hospitals and medical clinics, pharmacies, and drug stores)

· Manufacturing and processing plants of hygiene products

· Banks, money transfer services, microfinance institutions and cooperatives, excluding pawnshops not performing money transfer, and credit cooperatives, including armored vehicle services, if any

· Capital markets

· Power, energy, water, information technology and telecommunication supplies and facilities, including waste disposal services, as well as property management building utility services

· Energy companies and third-party contractors and service providers

· Telecommunications companies, internet service and cable television providers

· Airline and aircraft maintenance employees (including pilots and crew), ship captains and crew

· Essential projects, public or private (e.g., quarantine facilities, disaster risk reduction and rehabilitation works, sewerage projects, water service facilities projects, digital works)

· Priority public infrastructure projects and private construction projects (e.g., food production, agriculture, fishery, fishport development, energy, housing, communication, water utilities, manufacturing, BPOs), in accordance with DPWH guidelines

· Workers accredited by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) working on utility relocation works and specified limited works on railway projects

· Funeral and embalming services

· Humanitarian assistance from civil society organizations and non-government organizations

· Veterinary clinics

· Security personnel

Item

Description

Relevant Section of the IATF Omnibus Guidelines

On movement of persons

Everyone is still subject to a strict home quarantine.

Residents can only step out to --

· “access essential goods and services;”

· “work in permitted offices or establishments,” or

· do other activities permitted under the Omnibus Guidelines, such as exercising outdoors subject to the observation of with safety measures.

· If a person is any of the following, that person has to stay home “at all times”: (a) below 21 years old, (b) 60 years old or above, (c) “with immunodeficiency, comorbidities, or other health risks,” (d) pregnant, or (e) resides with a person referred to in any of (a) to (d). The exceptions are when leaving the home is “indispensable under the circumstances for obtaining essential goods and services, or for work in industries and offices permitted to operate.”

Sections 3(2), (3)(3), and 3(13)

Public and religious gatherings

Public gatherings that are “unauthorized, non-work essential or are entertainment related” (e.g., movie screenings, concerts, and sporting events) are prohibited.

Religious gatherings are “highly restricted. These “shall be limited to not more than five persons” and must adhere to “prescribed minimum health standards.”

Section 3(9)

Public transport

Public transport remains suspended. However, “point-to-point transport services provided by the government shall be allowed to operate, giving priority to healthcare workers.”

The DOTr has advised that the operation of tricycles during MECQ “may be allowed by the local government and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.”[5]

Sections 3(11) and 3(12)

Private transport

Please note that “commissioned shuttle services for employees of permitted establishments” are allowed. People are “strongly encouraged” to use “bikes and other non-motorized transportation.”

Section 3(16), in relation to Sections 2(11) and 2(12) provide guidelines on the types of IDs that will be honored by law enforcement agencies, such as IATF IDs, RapidPass, and “bona fide IDs issued by establishments exempted from the strict home quarantine requirement.”

Sections 3(11), 3(12), 3(16), 2(11) and 2(12).

Initial Deadline

New Deadline

Deadlines falling from March 16, 2020 to March 31, 2020 initially extended until May 31, 2020

June 30, 2020

Deadlines falling from April 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020, initially extended for 60 days

June 30, 2020

Deadlines falling from May 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020

July 30, 2020