An estimated 300,000 workers from the National Capital Region and nearby provinces are expected to go back to work starting tomorrow, May 15, with the easing of quarantine restrictions.
Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the decision of the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) to lower the quarantine level for the NCR Plus bubble to general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions from modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), means that the economy was opened just a little bit.
At this GCQ with heightened restrictions level, Lopez said an estimated 300,000 workers are expected to return to work starting tomorrow.
It could be recalled that when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was reimposed in late March this year, the DTI estimated that some 1.5 million workers lost their jobs. Of this figure, 300,000 to 500,000 workers were expected to have returned to work when the ECQ was lowered to MECQ. That leaves 1 million workers still without work.
With the new quarantine level starting Saturday, May 15, an additional 300,000 workers should be able to return to work. This means at least 700,000 workers in the NCR Plus alone still jobless.
Some of the throngs of workers who will go back to work tomorrow are those working in restaurants, which capacity for indoor dine-in has been adjusted to 20 percent from only 10 percent.
There will also be additional workers tending customers for personal care services such as nail spa, salon, and barbershops at 30 percent capacity.
Generally, all retail establishments are allowed to open except those engaged in indoor activities such as entertainment, recreational, amusement park, indoor contact sport and indoor courts, and venues for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions are still banned.
This prompted the DTI chief to encourage entrepreneurs to shift to al-fresco or outdoor business model to be able to operate despite the quarantines.