All malls and mixed-use buildings in Davao City are ordered to close all shops beginning 11:59 p.m. Thursday, March 19, 2020, until after the state of a public health emergency is lifted.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte ordered the temporary closure of the malls and mixed-use buildings in the city except for supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, mall in-house department stores, medical laboratories, doctors and dentists’ offices.
Duterte’s executive order issued on Thursday is in line with the city’s declaration of community quarantine and the World Health Organization’s classification of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as a pandemic.
The mayor said doctors demand for residents to stay in their houses to arrest the spread of infection in a community quarantine.
It has been observed that despite the declaration on community quarantine, the public still continues to go out and conduct non-essential activities.
Closing down shops is one way to control the activities of people and contain them in their homes.
In relation to containing movements of people, the Davao Region Covid-19 Task Force also headed by Duterte is imposing curfew hours, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. in the entire Davao Region effective 9 p.m. of Thursday, March 19, 2020.
The curfew in the entire region will be in effect until the public health emergency is lifted.
Local chief executives and councils in the region are enjoined is passing local ordinances that will adopt and impose the curfew hours in their respective localities.
The local officials were enjoined to adopt in their ordinances the following general guidelines of the curfew:
A daily curfew shall be imposed upon all persons between 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Movements of residents outside curfew hours shall be limited to accessing basic necessities; buying food and medicines and access to essential health services or taking out of garbage and essential activities (medical and humanitarian reasons)
Exemptions from the curfew are the employees of establishments providing basic necessities and activities related to health services, food and medicines production including, public markets, supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies, and drug stores, food preparation and delivery services, water refilling stations, manufacturing nad processing plants of basic food products and medicines, banks, money transfer services, power energy, water, and telecommunications supplies and government-accredited facilities; media personnel; persons-transiting to and from work, provided they shall present necessary identification and certificate of employment and all other persons deemed necessary by their respective LGUs to be excluded from the curfew.
Also exempted from the curfew are authorized government officials and personnel of law enforcement agencies and support groups in the fight against Covid-19.(MCV)
