The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) urged local officials to strictly enforce the quarantine restrictions amid the rising cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the past days.
And if necessary, DILG officer-in-charge (OIC) Bernardo Florece Jr. said Local Government Units (LGUs) could further strengthen their anti-COVID measures.
"Both the people and the law enforcers maybe already exhausted by these restrictions but there is a need to implement them to prevent the spread of the virus," said Florece in an interview over GMA News.
The official said they have already issued a memorandum to the LGUs to boost their ordinances to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 or pass one if no local law is in existence.
In the memorandum, Florece said LGUs were advised to standardize penalties for minimum health standard violations.
On March 16, 2020, the whole of Luzon was placed under lockdown as COVID-19 reached the Philippines.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on Managing Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) issued Resolution No. 101 for streamlined protocols across all LGUs.
Under the resolution, travelers do not need to undergo COVID-19 testing unless required by the LGU prior to travel.
Travel authority issued previously by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the local health certificates are no longer required for domestic travel that drew more people outside their residence.
But League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) president and Marinduque Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. said most LGUs had rejected the removal travel authority and local health certificates.
However, Florece explained that there was only a misinterpretation of the IATF guidelines that prompted the DILG to issue the memorandum.