Mt Province officials agree on cargo rules along border entries

By Gina Dizon

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Provincial officials have set unified rules to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus following joint meeting of Provincial Covid-19 task force and municipal executive heads.

Officials remain strict on unhampered entry of food cargo as transport restrictions are eased in this province classified under General Community Quarantine (GCQ).

In line with the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act providing local government units local autonomy to respond to COvid-19, unified rules on dealing with authorized personnel outside of residence (APOR)s such as those delivering necessary food items  via road entries in this Province were made.

Road entries include: Bontoc-Baguio, Bontoc-Ifugao, Bontoc-Kalinga, Paracelis-Isabela and Cervantes Ilocos Sur- Tadian.

The joint meeting resulted to amendment of Executive Order (EO) No. 17-A, s. 2020  by Provincial Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr on guidelines for Mountain Province under GCQ in accordance with the provisions of the national Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (MEID).

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier issued Proclamation No. 922 and 929 s. of 2020 that laid out guidelines governing imposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for Luzon.

                Said joint meeting discussed provisions of Executive Order 17 earlier issued by Lacwasan vis-à-vis IATF Resolution No. 30 and Resolution No. 1 of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Mountain Province Chapter (LMP-MPC) with  Police Provincial Director Homer M. Penecilla and Department of Local Government (DILG) Local Government Operations Officer Perry D. Bacwaden.

               The amended EO provides that cargoes from Covid- affected ECQ areas shall be delivered until the boundaries of Mountain Province and goods will only be allowed entry after thorough disinfection.

Traders or suppliers coming from ECQ zones who have buyers within Mountain Province shall deliver said goods to the Mountain Province boundary.

Here, the designated buyer shall pick up the goods at the boundary.

The trucks of both the trader and the buyer shall undergo thorough disinfection.

Mountain Province has still no Covid-19 case unlike Benguet, Baguio City, Isabela, Ilocos Sur and Ifugao. 

In case a businessman from Mountain Province has two or more trucks, one truck shall be stationed at the boundary to haul goods to and from the affected ECQ zones and the goods shall be transferred to another truck with a different driver who shall deliver it to its destination within Mountain Province.

Another agreement was the exchange-of-truck strategy. The driver travelling from the affected ECQ zone shall exchange his truck at the provincial boundary with another driver’s truck waiting inside the boundary. This truck may be exchanged only after thorough disinfection of both trucks and no contact policy of both drivers.

Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) officer Edward Chumawar said rule on exchange of vehicles also applies even if there is no cargo to be delivered and both cars subjected under decontamination.

Also, as agreed in said meeting, the relay system involves one truck and two drivers.

The first driver, who is coming from the affected ECQ zone shall leave the truck at the provincial boundary and after said truck has been thoroughly disinfected, the second driver waiting within the Mountain Province border shall drive the truck to its destination, and back to the same border, if needed.

The first driver shall stay at the designated camp site while waiting for the truck’s return.

The first driver shall not be allowed to leave said camp site, except to return to the affected ECQ zone from whence he came.

Travel pass, health declaration pass, food pass if service done is food, and identification cards are required from drivers attempting to enter the Province aside from undergoing the mandatory 14-day quarantine period where necessary.

Said documents are also required of those who exit from the province.

Apart from food delivery, APORs  who are allowed unhampered include those doing basic services on medical, funeral, security, and emergency responders; employees doing daily essentials on money transfer, pharmacies; officials and employees on telecommunications and energy companies; government skeletal force, those doing survey work  related to Covid-19, government officials and  support staff,  media personalities, agribusiness and agricultural workers,  and distressed overseas foreign workers (OFWs).           

In the same joint meeting, officials agreed to amend the EO like inclusion of "religious gatherings”.