By Pearl Gumapos
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya on Monday (Jan. 31) clarified that the “no vax, no ride” policy is only applicable in areas under Alert Level 3 and up.
He added that Philippine National Police (PNP) checkpoints are still present in areas under Alert Level 3 and that citizens must still hold on to their vaccination cards in case they encounter checkpoints.
“Ang polisiyang ‘no vax, no ride’ ay applicable lamang kung ang isang lugar ay nasa Alert Level 3 at pataas. Ngayon po ay nasa Alert Level 2 tayo, magmula bukas ay hindi na ito puwedeng ipatupad,” Malaya said during the Laging Handa public briefing.
“Ngunit iyong mga checkpoints ng PNP na pinautos ng ating Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ay tuloy pa rin po sa mga lugar na nasa Alert Level 3. So, patuloy pa rin po ang pagbabantay ng ating kapulisan sa mga areas na under Alert Level 3,” he said.
Meanwhile, the DILG also expressed its full support regarding the de-escalation to Alert Level 2 of the National Capital Region (NCR) and other areas.
TINGNAN: Listahan ng mga bagong alert level classification sa mga lugar sa bansa simula Peb. 1-15, 2022. pic.twitter.com/0eqji2AKzp
— PTVph (@PTVph) January 31, 2022
“Ito po ay suportado 100% ng DILG kasi nakabase naman po ito sa mga datos. Mayroong pagbaba ng 67% ang new cases sa NCR. Ang average natin last week was 13,200 tapos naging 4,398 na lamang,” Malaya said.
“Ang ating healthcare utilization rate ay nasa 40%, so low-risk. So, sa tingin namin ay napapanahon na para mailagay tayo sa Alert Level 2,” he added. -ag