The City Government of Davao announced on Tuesday, November 2, that it will no longer require the mandatory use of motorcycle barriers and installation of plastic barriers on the jeepneys and other public utility vehicles to separate passengers effective immediately.
Under the Executive Order No. 63 Series of 2021, an order providing for the lifting of the use of motorcycle barriers, jeepney and other public utility vehicle barriers, these barriers will no longer be required, however, the use of these safety measures are still encouraged.
It can be recalled that Davao City was placed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) under Alert Level 3 as of November 1. With this, the city has eased some restrictions following the improved COVID-19 situation in the city.
On October 31, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced that plastic barriers for separating passengers inside public utility vehicles (PUVs) are no longer required.
“There is a need to ease and loosen restrictions following the decrease in the number of cases reported and the active vaccination rollout within the city,” the EO said.
During the start of the pandemic, one of the measures implemented by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is the use of plastic barriers to maintain the required capacity rule inside the public transport and implement social distancing among the passengers.
Section 2 of the EO states that the use of plastic barriers in public utility vehicles (PUVs) shall no longer be required. However, drivers and operators must still implement the mandatory implementation of wearing the face mask and physical distancing inside their units.
Likewise, motorcycle barriers shall no longer be required for use.
“The barriers in public utility vehicles (PUVs) and motorcycles are still encouraged for voluntary use only,” the EO said.
Earlier, Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte has likewise announced that the use of face shield is no longer needed except in three C’s – crowded places with many people nearby, close-contact settings, especially where people have close-range conversations, and confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation.
Meanwhile, based on the data from the Department of Health (DOH) Davao Region as of November 1, Davao City has recorded 21 new cases of COVID-19 which brings the total number of active cases to 895.
In the vaccination report as of October 29, Davao City has logged a total of 788,001 fully vaccinated individuals and 882,818 Dabawenyos who have received their first shot of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine.CIO
