Palace appeals to public, business owners to prevent crowds amid eased COVID-19 restrictions

Malacañang on Monday said crowd prevention in light of eased COVID-19 restrictions amid the pandemic is up to the public and owners of business establishments.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque gave the reminder after throngs, mostly families, packed malls and other public places during the first weekend that Metro Manila is under Alert Level 2.

Under Alert Level 2, minors, even those unvaccinated, are allowed to go outside for leisure provided that their guardians are fully vaccinated.

"Nananawagan kami sa publiko, mall owners: binuksan natin mga malls sa kabataan para sa public health benefits ng kabataan at ekonomiya. Hindi dahilan ito para maging superspreader ang malling. Katungkulan niyo po ipatupad ang minimum health standards: mask, hugas, iwas, lalo na po ang iwas," Roque said.

(We are reminding the public: we opened the malls for the children for public health and our economy. This is not a reason for the places to be a superspreader event. It is your responsibility to implement minimum public health standards such as wearing of mask, frequent washing of hands, and social distancing, especially social distancing.)

"Pag di kayo tumupad, tataas na naman kaso, isasarado na naman malls, marami na naman mawawalan ng hanapbuhay. Nasa kamay natin ang muling pagsipa ng kaso ng COVID-19. Nasa kamay natin ang patuloy na pagbubukas ng mga negosyo para maging dahilan  ng tayo'y magkaroon ng mas maraming hanapbuhay."

(If the public will not comply, we may have a spike in cases. We will have to close malls again, and many will lose their jobs again. It is up to us if we are to sustain reopening of businesses which results in gaining employment.)

Roque also called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to be of assistance to street children who frequent the streets to beg for alms as Christmas season draws near.

"We call on the DSWD to give attention to these children. Besides that it concerns the well being of the children, it is very important to look after them because of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

There are 29.4 million Filipinos fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far, a figure which is 38.21% of the target population needed to achieve herd immunity.  —KBK, GMA News