Kids 11 years and below no longer allowed at dolomite beach —DENR

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Tuesday clarified the age restrictions for visitors of Manila Bay's dolomite beach.

At a Palace briefing, DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said children 11 years old and below will not be allowed entry to the area.

The DENR earlier announced that those 12 years old and below will not be allowed entry. Antiporda said this was due to "confusion" when the policy is being tackled by concerned DENR officials.

"Nagkaroon ng confusion na sinasabing 12 years old and below, kasi ang pinagbasihan nila ay 12 years old up to 17 years old ay pinapayagan na po magbakuna ngayon," he said.

"Ngayon, inaayos po namin itong impormasyon, 11 years old and below ang ipagbabawal po muna."

(There was confusion because it was initially based on the order that 12 to 17 years old can now be vaccinated against COVID-19. Now, we are correcting the information. Those 11 years old and below are not allowed at Dolomite beach.)

Meanwhile, in a tweet, the DENR said the dolomite beach will be closed from October 29 to November 3 in observance of All Saints' and All Souls' Days.

The Manila Bay management also earlier said the dolomite beach will be closed every Friday for maintenance, and will limit the entry of people in the artificial beach to avoid increasing the risk of coronavirus infection.

The DENR, as well as the police, recently drew flak after the artificial white sand area along Manila Bay drew large crowds over the weekend, including small children.

This development raised concerns that it can lead to a superspreader event amid the pandemic.

In response, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Guillermo Eleazar said more policemen will be deployed to the area to help ensure crowd control.

On Sunday, the PNP said authorities temporarily stopped the entry of visitors when the crowd reached 4,000.

At the Laging Handa public briefing on Monday, Manila Police District chief Police Brigadier General Leo Francisco said that a total of 65,000 visitors came to the dolomite beach on Sunday. —KBK, GMA News