THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is proposing to open up more business establishments to allow the return of around 500,000 workers following the extension of modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
During the Laging Handa briefing on Thursday, DTI Undersecretary Ruth B. Castelo said the Trade chief is recommending to the Inter-Agency Task Force to “ease up a little bit” on the restrictions for commercial establishments as long as they follow mandatory health protocols.
She explained that allowing more sectors to operate under MECQ, especially labor-intensive ones, will help improve employment figures.
For one, allowing personal care services to operate under MECQ will mean about 400,000 workers going back to work, Castelo said. This figure only accounts for the barbershops and beauty salons, excluding the nail salons and massage parlors, among others, she noted.
The personal care services are under Category III of the omnibus guidelines in the implementation of the community quarantine in the country.
This means the sector is not allowed to operate during ECQ and MECQ. But they can be open under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ (MGCQ) at the capacity of 50 percent and 100 percent, respectively.
Castelo said DTI is pushing to allow the personal care services to operate at 50 percent under the MECQ. In addition, the department suggests outdoor services for the personal care sector, like what restaurants are doing to allow more customers.
Meanwhile, the DTI official said they are proposing to allow indoor dine-in at 10-percent capacity under MECQ, which means 100,000 workers having their jobs back.
But she stressed that restaurants should strictly adhere to the health protocols such as diagonal seating, social distancing, sanitation and wearing of face masks and face shields, among others.
According to the omnibus guidelines, indoor dine-in services are not permitted both in ECQ and MECQ. Outdoor dine-in services for restaurants are not allowed under ECQ as well, but 50-percent capacity is allowed in MECQ.
Under GCQ, 75-percent outdoor dine-in and 30 to 50 percent indoor dine-in are allowed. Full capacity for both dines-in services is permitted under MGCQ.
Take-out and delivery in restaurants are allowed in all forms of community quarantine.
Castelo said the DTI has been monitoring business establishments allowed to operate under the community quarantine to make sure they follow strictly the health protocols in pandemic.
Majority compliant
In the first quarter monitoring of the DTI Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB), some 94.7 percent were found compliant with the mandated health protocols in Metro Manila.
DTI-FTEB said it inspected 1,077 establishments, 931 of which were found complying with the health protocols.
It ordered 146 firms found to be in violation, to take corrective action; 89 have responded already within the prescribed period.
Forty-six of these cases were endorsed to the local government units for further investigation and there rest, or 11, are awaiting corrective actions.
The violations observed include the lack of mandatory contact tracing, health declaration forms and thermal scanner upon entry.
On Wednesday, President Duterte approved the extension of MECQ in the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite until May 14.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said earlier the Philippine economy lost about P300 billion in all during the implementation of ECQ and MECQ this year to arrest the surging Covid-19 cases.
Basing on the labor force survey, Lopez said that some 1.5 million workers were displaced during ECQ but about 500,000 of them were expected to have returned to work when the country transitioned to MECQ.