DRIVERS, operators, and riders can now dismantle plastic barriers in their units after the Davao City Government officially lifted Tuesday, November 2, 2021, the use of barriers in motorcycles, jeepneys, and other public utility vehicles (PUVs).
This developed after Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued Executive Order (EO) 63 on Tuesday afternoon.
Section 1 of EO 63 states that plastic barriers PUVs will no longer be required. However, drivers and operators must still implement the mandatory wearing face masks and physical distancing inside their units.
Section 3 states that barriers will only be “for voluntary use only.”
“There is a need to ease and loosen restrictions following the decrease in the number of cases reported and the active vaccination rollout within the city,” Duterte-Carpio said in her EO.
As of November 1, Davao City has 895 active cases based on the Covid-19 Daily Case Bulletin of the City Health Office.
“Davao City is currently at 68.46 percent for first doses and 61.45 percent for second doses of its target number of inoculations in achieving herd immunity as reported by the Davao City Task Force on Covid-19 last October 29, 2021,” Duterte-Carpio said.
The issuance of the EO also came after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced that it would no longer be requiring plastic barriers in PUVs, which served as a division for passengers to observe the mandatory physical distancing.
Transportation Assistant Secretary for road transport Mark Steven Pastor said in a virtual presser that the removal of the barriers came after medical findings showing no pharmacological efficacy to prevent the transmission of the virus to the passengers.
“Drivers and operators can already remove them because there are no medical findings, based on our studies, that they can prevent the spread of Covid-19. Instead, the virus could stick to them,” Pastor said.
Some Dabawenyos, on social media, had been appealing to the City Government for the lifting of the mandatory motorcycle barrier, a day after the mayor said passengers onboard an open and well-ventilated public utility jeepneys (PUJs) are no longer required to wear face shields in Davao City.
The lifting of face shields is in accordance to EO 51, which adopted the national policy of the mandatory wearing of face shields in areas that are “closed and crowded.”
Voluntary use of face shields
Meanwhile, Duterte-Carpio issued EO 51-A on November 2, 2021.
Under the EO, face shields are now “for voluntary use in 3Cs settings: crowded places, close contact settings, and confined and enclosed spaces.”
“For all other places, the use of face shield shall not be required,” the EO read.
The EO is in accordance with the recent announcement of President Rodrigo Duterte limiting the use of face shields in 3C settings.