ILOILO City – Taking cue from the provincial government of Iloilo, Gov. Esteban Contreras of Capiz also lifted the border restrictions he imposed on July 2.
He issued Executive Order No. 20-D for this on Tuesday, citing the July 6 meeting of the Western Visayas inter-agency task force on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) where provincial governors of Iloilo, Antique, Negros Occidental, and Aklan agreed to relax their respective border controls.
Under Contreras’ latest directive, the following are free to cross the province’s borders:
* Officials and employees of national government agencies and local government units travelling in the performance of their duties and functions, who shall be required to present a valid government issued identification card
* Employees of private business located in the Province of Capiz allowed to operate under the guidelines for modified general community quarantine or these rules
* Patients requiring or availing medical services in the Province of Capiz who are not infected with COVID-19. They shall be allowed only one companion and one driver
* Medical personnel, health workers, first responders, and other emergency personnel responding to an emergency or transporting a victim to a hospital or health facility
* Armored vans or vehicles of banks and of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, subject to a visual inspection of the persons inside
* Vehicles carrying essential goods, products and medical supplies, and those hauling, delivering or purchasing goods and merchandise, whether food or non-food, construction materials, and aggregates and other materials, such vehicle shall contain only a maximum three persons consisting of a driver and two helpers or companions.
* Repatriated overseas Filipino returning to the province in trips organized by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and othe government agencies
* Locally stranded Individuals returning to the province organized by the concerned government units in the Province of Capiz
* Other persons transported through the efforts of the National Government, upon contact of the necessary protocols, and in concurrence with the receiving local government unit concerned
* Residents of the Provinces of Aklan, Antique, Guimaras, Iloilo City and province, Negros Occidental and Bacolod City traveling therefrom and into the Province
However, these persons shall only be allowed to enter the Province upon presentation of proper identification card and other pertinent documents.
Monday’s regional inter-agency task force meeting held at Casa Real de Iloilo was attended by Gov. Esteban Contreras of Capiz, Gov. Samuel Gumarin of Guimaras, Mayor Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City, and Governor Defensor.
While the lifting of border restrictions was agreed, according to Iloilo Provincial Administrator Suzette Mamon, the Philippine Coast Guard, Maritime Industry Authority and related agencies were reminded to further strengthen their operation against the illegal entry of locally stranded individuals and undocumented persons from other regions via seaports.
Iloilo province, Iloilo City, Capiz, Negros Occidental, and Bacolod City remain under a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ, “moderate risk”)./PN
