By Antonio Colina IV
DAVAO CITY – The City Government of Davao will implement an eight-hour curfew that will start from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. when the city shifts from the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to a less restrictive general community quarantine (GCQ) starting May 16 pending approval by the COVID-19 Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Mayor Sara Duterte (Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
Based on a five-page draft of the proposal of Mayor Sara Duterte’s executive order on GCQ released Thursday, it provides that the people are prohibited from going outside their houses within the duration of the new curfew hours, except in cases of emergencies or workers from exempted offices, establishments, and industries, as defined by the Department of Trade Industry Memorandum Circular-2022.
The national task force is expected to come out with a decision on Thursday whether to extend the implementation of ECQ or not in the city.
In the task force’s Resolution No. 5, the entire Davao Region was classified as “moderate risk” and areas under this classification can implement the GCQ where the exemption will be expanded to cover other business establishments and other government and private offices.
In an interview over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR) 87.5 on Wednesday, Duterte said the curfew hours must be adjusted so that limited public transport can serve the workers who are expected to return to work once the shift to GCQ is allowed by the national government.
“We will discuss the new curfew hours because most of the workers will return to work. They cannot go home,” she said.
She added that the new guidelines will be released only if the shift to GCQ is permitted by the national task force.
The mayor implemented a 15-day ECQ from April 4 to April 19, but extended it to April 26. Days before the second extension was to expire, the national government extended the ECQ for another 19 days in areas considered as “high risk” until May 15.