The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) clarified on Thursday that senior citizens were allowed to leave their residences to enter commercial establishments to buy essential goods and services.
Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya explained that senior citizens were exempted from the Metro Manila curfew “if they are returning home from work or if they left home to buy medicine.”
He said seniors would need to show proof of their purpose for going out of their homes to law enforcers.
The agency issued on Aug. 16 a memorandum titled “Rule of Mobility of Older Persons in Quarantine Situations as Prescribed by the IATF-MEID,” which clarifies that all local government units (LGUs) should not implement a “24/7 lockdown” on older persons in their homes.
The undersecretary emphasized that the movement of senior citizens needed to be restricted due to their vulnerability to Covid-19.
“It is clear that senior citizens may go out of their residences provided that their purpose is to access essential services or go to work in permitted industries,” Malaya said
He said the DILG directed the police and barangay personnel to respect seniors’ travel time.
“In areas under ECQ (Enhanced Community Quarantine) and MECQ (Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine), they shall allow older persons to cross borders for medical or humanitarian purposes, provided that humanitarian purposes shall include the obtaining of essential goods and services that are not available in their local area,” the DILG said.
Senior citizens are required to present their identification cards, which are issued by the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA), to police and barangay personnel when traveling, the undersecretary explained.
The DILG urged the OSCAs to set up help desks and telephone or cellphone hotlines to assist older persons in filing complaints or charges against any individual or institution refusing to comply with the guidelines. Francis David T. Perez