IATF-EID Resolution No. 106-B, s. 2021

March 28, 2021

IATF-EID RESOLUTION NO. 106-B, S. 2021

WHEREAS, Section 15, Article II of the 1987 Constitution states that the State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them;

WHEREAS, Section 2 (b) of Executive Order No. 168 (s. 2014)mandates the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to prevent and/or minimize the entry of suspected or confirmed patients with emerging infectious diseases into the country;

WHEREAS, on September 16, 2020, the President issued Proclamation No. 1021 (s. 2020)extending the period of the State of Calamity throughout the Philippines until September 21, 2021;

WHEREAS, the Department of Health (DOH), the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) biosurveillance has detected B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.3 variants of the COVID-19;

WHEREAS, the continued implementation of proactive measures and restrictions must be put in place to slow down the surge in COVID-19 cases, stop further spread of variants, buy time for the health system to cope, and to protect more lives;

WHEREAS, the IATF Technical Working Group was directed to review and provide recommendations for other amendments that may be required in the IATF Omnibus Guidelines to be implemented during said period. The IATF Chairperson and Co-Chairperson were likewise authorized to approve any such recommendations.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, as it is hereby resolved, that the IATF approves the following amendments to the IATF Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines:

A. The terms and corresponding definitions for operational capacity and skeleton workforce are amended as follows:

1. On-site capacity — refers to such number of employees or workers who can be permitted or required to physically report for work outside of their residences.

2. Skeleton workforce — refers to the on-site capacity which utilizes the smallest number of people necessary for a business or organization to maintain its basic functions.

B. The Guidelines for Areas Placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in Section [2] shall now read as follows:

1. Minimum public health standards shall be complied with at all times for the duration of the ECQ.

2. Strict home quarantine shall be observed in all households, and the movement of all residents shall be limited to accessing essential goods and services, and for work in permitted offices or establishments as well as activities listed hereunder.

3. Any person below eighteen (18) years old, those who are over sixty-five (65) years of age, those with immunodeficiency, comorbidity, or other health risks, and pregnant women, shall be required to remain in their residences at all times, except when indispensable under the circumstances for obtaining essential goods and services, or for work in industries and offices or such other activities permitted in this Section.

4. The following establishments, persons, or activities are allowed to operate, work, or be undertaken for the duration of the ECQ:

a. With full on-site capacity:

i. Public and private hospitals;

ii. Health, emergency and frontline services, including those provided by dialysis centers, chemotherapy centers, and the like;

iii. Manufacturers of medicines and vitamins, medical supplies, devices and equipment, including suppliers of input, packaging, and distribution;

iv. Industries involved in agriculture, forestry, and fishery and their workers, including farmers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, fisherfolk, and agri-fishery stores, and such other components of the food value chain;

v. Logistics service providers (delivery and courier services, cargo handling, warehousing, trucking, freight forwarding, port operations and shipping line);

vi. Essential and priority construction projects, whether public or private, in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Department of Public Works and Highways;

vii. Manufacturing related to food and other essential goods such as but not limited to soap and detergents, disinfectants, and personal hygiene products;

viii. Companies that manufacture and/or supply equipment or products necessary to perform construction or maintenance works, such as cement and steel, or spare parts;

ix. Essential retail trade and service establishments such as public markets, supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies or drug stores, laundry shops, and water-refilling stations;

x. Food preparation establishments such as commissaries, restaurants, and eateries, but limited to take-out and delivery;

xi. Public and private financial service providers involved in the distribution of government grants and amelioration subsidies; and

xii. Business process outsourcing establishments (BPOs), and export-oriented businesses, including mining and quarrying activities.

b. At a maximum of fifty percent (50%) on-site capacity:

i. Media establishments and their total permanent staff complement, inclusive of reporters and other field employees

c. With an on-site skeleton workforce:

i. Dental, rehabilitation, optometry and other medical clinics: Provided, that there is strict observance of infection prevention and control protocols. Provided, further, that dental procedures shall be limited to emergency cases only and that the wearing of full Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) by dentists and attendants shall be mandatory. Provided, finally, that home service therapy for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) shall be allowed;

ii. Veterinary clinics;

iii. Banks, money transfer services, including pawnshops only insofar as performing money transfer functions, microfinance institutions, and credit cooperatives, including their armored vehicle services, if any;

iv. Capital markets, including but not limited to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Securities and Exchange Commission, Philippine Stock Exchange, Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corporation, Philippine Securities Settlement Corporation, and Philippine Depository and Trust Corporation;

v. Water supply and sanitation services and facilities, including waste disposal services, as well as property management and building utility services;

vi. Energy and power companies, their third-party contractors and service providers, including employees involved in electric transmission and distribution, electric power plant and line maintenance, electricity market and retail suppliers, as well as those involved in the exploration, operations, trading and delivery of coal, oil, crude or petroleum and by-products (gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas, jet oil, kerosene, lubricants), including gasoline stations, refineries and depots or any kind of fuel used to produce electricity;

vii. Telecommunications companies, internet service providers, cable television providers, including those who perform indirect services such as the technical, sales, and other support personnel, as well as the employees of their third-party contractors doing sales, installation, maintenance and repair works;

viii. Airline and aircraft maintenance, pilots and crew, and employees of aviation schools for purposes of the pilot's recurrent training for flight proficiency and type rating using simulator facilities; and ship captains and crew, including shipyard operations and repair;

ix. Funeral and embalming services;

x. Pastors, priests, rabbis, imams or such other religious ministers and their assistants whose movement shall be related to the conduct of religious services performed through online video recording and transmission, and necrological or funeral rites. Corollarily, immediate family members of the deceased who died of causes other than COVID-19 shall be allowed to move from their residences to attend the wake or interment of the deceased upon satisfactory proof of their relationship with the latter, fully complying with the prescribed minimum public health standards for the duration of the activity;

xi. Security personnel licensed by the Philippine National Police-Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies;

xii. Printing establishments authorized by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and other government agencies to print accountable forms and other security documents;

xiii. Establishments engaged in repair and maintenance of machinery and equipment, including those engaged in the repair of computers and household fixtures and equipment; and

xiv. Real estate activities limited to leasing only.

For purposes of the foregoing, transit by permitted persons to and from the above establishments anywhere within the area covered by ECQ shall be allowed.

5. Agencies and instrumentalities of the government, including GOCCs, SUCs, as well as LGUs, shall be fully operational, with a skeleton workforce on-site and the remainder under alternative work arrangements as approved by the head of agency unless a greater on-site capacity is required in agencies providing health and emergency frontline services, laboratory and testing services, border control, or other critical services.

6. The co-equal or independent authority of the legislature (Senate and the House of Representatives), the judiciary (the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals, Sandiganbayan, and the lower courts), the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Constitutional Commissions, to implement any alternative work arrangements, is recognized.

7. Officials and employees of foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations accredited by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), whenever performing diplomatic functions and subject to the guidelines issued by the DFA, may operate with a skeleton workforce.

8. Only hotels or accommodation establishments with valid DOT Accreditation shall be allowed to accommodate guests and clients for legitimate purposes under a state of public health emergency. The operations of such hotels and accommodation establishments, as well as ancillary establishments within their premises such as restaurants, cafés, gyms, spas, function halls, and the like, shall be subject to guidelines issued by the DOT and the IATF.

9. Gatherings outside of residences shall be prohibited. Gatherings at residences with any person outside of one's immediate household, shall likewise be prohibited. However, gatherings that are essential for the provision of health services, government services, or humanitarian activities authorized by the appropriate government agency or instrumentality, which shall adhere to the prescribed minimum public health standards, shall be allowed.

10. Face-to-face or in-person classes at all levels shall be suspended. The Education sector shall operate in accordance with existing and future guidelines of the Commission on Higher Education for higher education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for technical vocational education and training, and Department of Education for basic education.

11. The road, rail, maritime, and aviation sectors of public transportation shall be allowed to operate at such capacity and protocols in accordance with guidelines issued by the Department of Transportation.

12. Law enforcement agencies shall recognize any of the following IDs: (i) IATF IDs issued by the regulatory agencies with jurisdiction over permitted establishments or persons, (ii) Integrated Bar of the Philippines ID for lawyers who will provide legal representation necessary to protect rights of persons under custodial investigation, to bail, and to counsel during inquest proceedings, (iii) bona fide IDs issued by establishments allowed under ECQ, and, (iv) if required by the LGU, local IDs for availing of essential goods and services. No other IDs or passes specifically exempting persons from community quarantine shall be required of workers of permitted establishments and/or offices without prejudice to requiring the presentation of other documents establishing the nature of their work.

13. The movement of cargo/delivery vehicles as well as vehicles used by public utility companies shall be unhampered. Shuttle services of permitted establishments shall not be subject to an ID system but shall maintain compliance with minimum public health standards.

14. Private corporations are encouraged to process payrolls online. Payroll managers, and such other employees required for the processing of payroll shall be allowed to travel to their respective offices during ECQ.

15. Uniform curfew hours may be imposed by LGUs, subject to the guidelines issued by the Department of the Interior and Local Government. Workers, cargo vehicles, public transportation, and operating hours of permitted establishments, however, shall not be restricted by such curfew.

C. The inclusion of the following provision under Section [8] General Provisions:

8. Any violation of the foregoing prohibitions shall constitute non-cooperation of the person or entities punishable under Section 9 par. (d) or (e), as the case may be, of Republic Act No. 11332, otherwise known as the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act, and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.

APPROVED as authorized by the IATF during the 106th Inter-Agency Task Force Meeting, held on the 27th of March 2021.

(SGD.) FRANCISCO T. DUQUE IIISecretary, Department of HealthIATF Chairperson

(SGD.) KARLO ALEXEI B. NOGRALESSecretary, Office of the Cabinet SecretariatIATF Co-Chairperson

ATTACHMENT

Certification

This is to certify that:

1. I am presently an Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health;

2. I am the OIC-Head of the Secretariat of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases created under Executive Order No. 168, (s. 2014) and chaired by the Department of Health (DOH);

3. The IATF Secretariat holds office in the DOH Main Office, San Lazaro Compound, Tayuman, Sta. Cruz, Manila;

4. I am the custodian of the records of the IATF, including the Minutes of Meetings and Resolutions;

5. In a special meeting of the IATF on March 27, 2021, the IATF Technical Working Group was directed to review and provide recommendations for other amendments that may be required in the IATF Omnibus Guidelines. The IATF Chairperson and Co-Chairperson were likewise authorized to approve such recommendations;

6. Upon the recommendation of the IATF TWG, the foregoing Resolution No. 106-B has been approved and signed by Secretary Francisco T. Duque III and Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles upon the authority of the IATF Members;

7. The aforesaid resolution has complied with the procedure approved by the IATF and has not been altered, modified nor revoked and the same is now in full force and effect; and

8. I am executing this Certification for whatever legitimate purpose this may serve.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto affixed my signature this 28th day of March 2021, Manila.

(SGD.) ATTY. CHARADE B. MERCADO-GRANDEOIC-Head of the Secretariat, IATFAssistant Secretary of Health