By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. clarified on Monday that travel between the province and Iloilo City remains unrestricted despite the differences in community quarantine statuses between the two areas.
In a press briefing, Defensor said there will be no changes in inter-zonal travel for economic reasons despite the city’s return to the “stricter” General Community Quarantine (GCQ).
Iloilo province remained under Modified GCQ, which has been in place since June 1 via the governor’s Executive Order (EO) No. 128.
Iloilo City, however, returned to the GCQ from MGCQ via Executive Order No. 132 issued by Mayor Jerry Treñas on August 16.
“The difference now is which establishments are open, and what is the operational capacity of allowed establishments. There is no restriction on inter-zonal travel because the economy of the city and the province is uniform, so there should be no restrictions. You just have to make adjustments in the monitoring of persons who go around the province,” he said.
As regards Capiz’s restrictions on Iloilo City residents before entering their province, Defensor said he respects the neighboring province’s decision.
The provincial government of Capiz announced on August 16 that it will now require residents coming from Iloilo City to present a valid ID, medical certificate, letter of acceptance, and travel authority.
These requirements are similar to the requirements for Locally-Stranded Individuals (LSI).
The governor added that his new MGCQ EO will also include border restriction provisions.
“I’m not fully aware of that, but we respect that. We also have border restrictions with Negros Occidental. I’m not sure if the city has lifted that already, but that’s also why we’re putting it in our EO. I respect what Capiz wants. Although the Omnibus Guidelines don’t state any border restrictions between GCQ and MGCQ areas, they have a reason and we respect that,” the governor said.
The governor believes that there will not be a problem in travelling within Panay Island as the situation is incomparable to that between Metro Manila and Iloilo province.
Metro Manila was also previously under GCQ until August 4 while the province was under MGCQ.
EO 128-H limits travel to the province only to repatriated LSIs and Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROF), with a weekly passenger cap of 550.
“Previously, we had problems with Metro Manila which was under GCQ while we were under MGCQ. If there weren’t any travel restrictions when Manila was high-risk, we would’ve had problems. That is why we did everything for those coming from Manila to Iloilo, we exercised the highest level of quarantine procedures. We required a lot because we knew there were higher risks. So that’s what Capiz is doing and we respect that, but I don’t think that would be a problem if it would be just within Panay,” he said.
