No Holy Week break for quarantines in NCR, nearby provinces for 2nd straight year

Residents of Metro Manila and nearby provinces will be required to stay at home during the Holy Week break for the second year in a row, as part of the restrictions announced by Malacañang over the weekend amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.

In a virtual briefing on Sunday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said only essential travel will be allowed in the bubble area covering Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal from March 22 until April 4, including the Holy Week holidays.

"Sana maintindihan ng lahat na this is for the common good. Alam po natin na nag-plano na kayo at talagang you are looking forward to this Holy Week break, pero kung papayagan po tayo ng unimpeded travel, ngayon ay talagang mas mapapabilis ang pagkalat ng new variant sa iba't ibang parte ng Pilipinas at 'yan ang ating iniiwasan," he said.

[We hope everyone understands this is for the common good. We know that you were planning for and looking forward to this Holy Week break, but if we allow unimpeded travel, the spread of the new variant will throughout the country will speed up and that is what we are trying to avoid.]

Roque said modes of transportation to and from the bubble area will remain operational, but non-essential travelers would be flagged down by authorities.

Only those going home and to work will be allowed in and out of the areas, he said.

Asked if swimming at resorts will be allowed during the effectivity period of the guidelines, Roque responded that travel within the bubble itself will not be suspended, but did not elaborate.

Roque made the clarification as part of the restrictions announced on Sunday, as approved by President Rodrigo Duterte following the endorsement of the inter-agency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases (IATF-EID). — BM, GMA News