DTI lists industries allowed to operate

MANILA, Philippines  —  The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) yesterday released the list of industries allowed to operate in modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) areas.

According to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, the following industries can operate at 100 percent capacity, on site, under MECQ:

• Public and private hospitals

• Health and emergency and frontline services

• Medicine manufacturers

• Agriculture

• Logistics service providers

• Essential and priority construction projects

• Manufacturing of food and essential goods

• Manufacturing

• Distribution of construction equipment

• Essential retail trade and service establishments

• Food establishments for takeout or delivery

• Public and private financial service providers

• Business process outsourcing; and

• Public transport providers and operators

Media are allowed to operate at 50 percent on-site capacity, as well as the following industries with skeleton workforce:

• Dental

• Rehabilitation

• Optometry and other medical clinics

• Veterinary clinics

• Banks

• Money transfer services including pawnshops

• Capital markets

• Water supply and janitorial or sanitation

• Energy sector and third-party contractors and service providers

• Telecommunications companies

• Internet service providers

• Cable television providers

• Airline and aircraft maintenance, pilots and crew

• Funeral and embalming services.

However, the following industries are not allowed to resume operations:

• Entertainment venues like karaoke bars, bars, clubs, concert halls, theaters and cinemas

• Recreation venues like internet cafes, billiard halls, amusement arcades, bowling alleys, amusement parks or theme parks

• Indoor and outdoor sports courts and/or swimming pools

• Fitness studios, gyms and spas

• Casinos, horse racing, cockfighting, lottery and betting shops (except for Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office draws)

• Indoor visitor or tourist attractions, libraries, archives, museums, galleries and cultural shows and exhibits

• Outdoor tourist attractions, meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibition (MICE) venues

• Personal care services like salons, beauty parlors, medical aesthetic clinics, cosmetic or derma clinics, nail spas and indoor dine-in services.

Lopez said outdoor dining would be allowed in MECQ areas but only at 50 percent capacity, with diagonal seating or acrylic dividers.

500k return to work

Lopez estimates that 500,000 people who lost their jobs during the two-week ECQ in NCR Plus areas would now return to work.

“But with the MECQ, there are 500,000 that could return. So, there are one million that still cannot totally go back. They may be able to return under GCQ (general community quarantine),” he said, noting that many micro, small and medium enterprises decided to close shop in April given the restrictions.

The trade secretary hopes these establishments would reopen once MECQ areas are relaxed into GCQ, should COVID-19 cases go down.

According to a Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) report, over 17,000 workers in Metro Manila and nearby areas lost their jobs during the ECQ. Some 77,658 workers were affected by flexible work arrangements and another 63,871 were impacted by temporary closures.

Based on DOLE data, 30 percent of displaced workers were from the construction industry while 18 percent came from the service sector. – Mayen Jaymalin