Enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila is back, as the government has announced that the capital will be put under the stricter classification from August 6 to 20, 2021. It feels like March 2021 all over again. Or March 2020. Whatever.
Based on past ECQ guidelines, public transportation will presumably go back to how it was a few months back. Trains will only be allowed to carry up to 30% of their capacities, while public utility buses (PUBs) and jeepneys (PUJs) will be allowed up to 50%. For the full details on the stricter transport guidelines, you can read our previous story here.
Take note that for now, Metro Manila is still under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until ECQ takes effect. For more info on which regions will be placed under what type of community quarantine, you can refer to the table below:
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has yet to release the full guidelines on transport, but it has now released an official statement. It reads:
“Per Secretary [Arthur] Tugade, the recommendation of DOTr is to retain the current supply and capacity of public transportation.
“Restrictions will be applied on passengers, i.e. stricter enforcement to ensure that only APORs are permitted to use public transport, as mandated by the IATF.
But, whatever the decision of IATF will be, we will abide.”
This is a developing story, so we will be updating this story in case the DOTr has any new announcements. We’ve reached out to the agency to ask if its Libreng Sakay program will return in light of ECQ, but have yet to receive a response as of this writing.. More as we have them.
NOTE: This story has been updated on July 30, 2021 at 6:15pm.
