An official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) emphasized Monday, Feb. 22, the urgency to craft synchronized restrictions for leisure domestic travelers, an industry that is estimated to account for more than 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), in case the entire nation shifts to the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
In an interview over ANC, DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said the 10 percent GDP derived from the tourism industry means that tens of thousands jobs are at stake not only in the hotels and hospitals but also in the air carrier industries.
“The tour guides, the tour operators, all of these industries have been affected by the lockdowns and by the quarantine restrictions,’’ Malaya said.
He also stressed that travel restrictions for “APORS (authorized persons outside residence)’’ are only in place at present as there are still no “harmonized restrictions’’ for leisure domestic travelers in the country.
Stressing the country’s readiness to be placed under the least restrictive MGCQ, Malaya said the health sector have showed its preparedness for any “movement (of COVID-19) in terms of the pandemic as the numbers of positive (COVID-19) positive cases has remained stable nationwide except in some areas where there were “limited increase’’.
He added that the local government units (LGUs) are now prepared to address COVID-19 health concerns as they now implement localized or granular lockdowns in their respective turfs as the need arises.
For the past year, Malaya noted that the government has been enforcing very strict elements mandated under the national action plan against COVID-19 but stressed that it is still the President’s call if the entire country will be placed under MGCQ.
“The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), the Metro Manila mayors have all agreed that we need to go down to a lower restriction classification but it will still be up to the president on what he decides is best for the country,’’ he added.
As part of the IATF, Malaya maintained that the DILG favors the shift of the entire country to MGCQ as risks have to be mitigated through other means with jobs being lost and incidents of hunger skyrocketing to alarming levels during the pandemic.
“When I say mitigate the risk through other means that would require more stringent enforcement of minimum health standards and also were not saying we do away with all travel restrictions. All we are saying is harmonize and streamline it. Meaning if i travel to Cebu, I would expect the same restriction if I travel to Boracay or if I travel to Baguio, or if I travel to Davao,’’ Malaya pointed out.
“Harmonizing it, so we are not saying remove the restrictions. All we are saying is let’s require a common requirement from a traveler going home. So is it going to be a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test or an antigen test? Let’s make it standard and let everybody follow it so that the traveler will not be confused and the traveler will know what to expect,’’ Malaya stressed.