Which employees are allowed to enter Metro Manila amid community quarantine?

Workers employed in Metro Manila will be allowed to travel in and out of the nation’s economic and financial hub despite the implementation of community quarantine to contain the COVID-19, according to the memorandum Malacañan Palace issued on Saturday.

“All workers, whether employed or self-employed, will be provisionally allowed to travel to and from NCR (National Capital Region), subject to review by the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) if public health considerations so warrant,” the memorandum released by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said.

Workers coming in and out of Metro Manila shall provide proof of employment and/or business to be presented at border checkpoints.

Malacañang released the set of guidelines on how government agencies can implement the stringent social distancing measures and community quarantine in Metro Manila in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, whose death toll in the country was at six as of Saturday morning.

The measures were crafted following a meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on Friday, March 13, to iron out the details on how to implement the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte.

On Thursday night, Duterte addressed the nation, saying that the Philippine government is restricting travel to and from Metro Manila starting March 15 until April 14 as part of community quarantine in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, which World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said can now be considered a "pandemic."

The Philippine government has raised Code Red Sub-Level 2 alert over the COVID-19 threat.

Under the Department of Health's code alert system for emergencies, “Code Red Alert” means that 100% of hospital personnel shall report for duty in the facility to render medical and other services.

President Duterte last Thursday announced Code Red Sub-Level 2 has been raised, and Metro Manila will be under "community quarantine."

Under alert level,  land, domestic air, and domestic sea travel to and from Metro Manila will be suspended from March 15, 2020 until April 14, 2020, subject to daily review of the government.

The Philippines will also ban foreign nationals from countries with localized COVID-19 transmissions, except diplomats and permanent residents. —Ted Cordero/LBG, GMA News