League of Provinces appeals to gov't to defer Alert Level System to November 1

The League of Provinces of the Philippines wants to move to November 1 the expansion of the Alert Level System outside Metro Manila, its president Marinduque Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. said Wednesday.

Interviewed on Dobol B TV, Velasco said that local governments need time to create executive orders, study the guidelines for enforcement, and inform their residents.

He said they will appeal to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to defer the Alert Level System expansion which took effect on October 20, Wednesday, and will last until October 31.

“Hihiling kami sa IATF na huwag munang i-implement, i-defer muna. Ang tingin ko, November 1 na (We will request to the IATF to defer the expansion. I think it should be moved to November 1),” he said.

The expansion of the Alert Level System was just announced by the Malacañang on Tuesday.

“Sana huwag muna ipatupad agad kasi biglang-bigla. Paggising kinabukasan, ito na, i-implement na agad," Velasco said.

(Hopefully, it will not be implemented immediately because it was so sudden. We wake up the next day, and here it is, it should be implemented immediately.)

The Alert Level System was implemented on a pilot test basis in Metro Manila since September 16.

Malacanang announced on Tuesday that Negros Oriental and Davao Occidental will be under Alert Level 4.

Alert Level 3 is up over Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Siquijor, Davao City and Davao del Norte.

Areas under Alert Level 2 include: Batangas, Quezon, Lucena City, Bohol, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Cebu, Davao de Oro, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental. 

Under the IATF guidelines, alert level systems will cover entire cities or municipalities, which will manage and minimize spread of infections.

Each city or municipality will be classified from Alert Level 1 to Alert Level 5. It will be the Department of Health who will assign these alert level systems.

This is also different from granular lockdowns, which is defined as micro-level quarantine for areas classified as "critical zones" by the local government unit.

Alert Level 4 is implemented in areas where COVID-19 case counts are high and/or increasing while total beds and ICU beds are at high utilization rate.

Among the restrictions under Alert Level 4 are 10% limited capacity for indoor dining for fully vaccinated customers, and 30% maximum outdoor capacity for customers regardless of vaccination status.

Alert Level 3 is implemented in areas with high COVID-19 case count and/or with increasing utilization rate for total beds and  intensive care units.

Among establishments allowed to operate under Alert Level 3 are indoor visitor or tourist attractions, libraries, archives, museums, galleries, and cultural shows and exhibits.

READ: How the new COVID-19 alert levels and granular lockdowns work

—KG, GMA News