IBP national office stays open with minimal staff amid COVID-19 emergency

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) is keeping its national office "functional" with minimal personnel while the rest work from home as a precautionary measure against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-2019).

IBP president Domingo Egon Cayosa said Friday that staff are to report to the national office, located in Ortigas, on a rotation basis "to attend to urgent and important matters." He said the office is being sanitized.

He also announced the postponement of the March 13 and 14 Board of Governors Meeting and CBD Meeting, as well as the March 28-29 legal aid workshop in Bukidnon.

"All other meetings are to be done by Skype or other electronic/cyberspace means," Cayosa said in an advisory posted on the IBP's Facebook page.

He added that the IBP "is ready to extend assistance to any employee, member or immediate member of their family who may be afflicted with COVID-19."

He advised the organization's chapters to take similar measures depending on their local circumstances.

He said the protocols will be periodically adjusted.

"IBP employees and all Filipino lawyers are enjoined to observe best practices and cooperate with authorities and their communities to avoid COVID-19," Cayosa said.

The IBP is the organization of all Filipino lawyers.

The Philippine government has so far reported 52 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country. Five patients have died.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is characterizing the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic.

COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus, which belongs to a family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), according to the WHO. —LDF, GMA News