DOTr lifts all COVID-19 protocols in public transportation
The Department of Transportation has lifted all its public transport protocols in line with COVID-19.
Following the lifting of the state of public health emergency throughout the Philippines due to the pandemic, the DOTr, in a department order posted on Facebook on Sunday, July 23, stated that “all issuances that are effective only during the State of Public Health Emergency are hereby withdrawn, revoked, or cancelled and shall no longer be in effect.”
This means that using face masks and practicing social distancing in public transport are no longer required.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista also explained in an interview on Teleradyo Serbisyo that the move covers their previous directives in trains. "Sa mga trains po, ang isa sa mga directives dati ay bawal magsalita, bawal gumamit ng telepono, pero ngayon po ay gagawin na nating normal operations. Kung ano po yung mga ating ginagawa pre-pandemic ay ibabalik na po natin ‘yan. Back to normal," he said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Proclamation No. 297 on Friday, July 21 lifting the COVID-19 state of public health emergency in the country.
The proclamation noted that all emergency use authorization issued by the FDA pursuant to Executive Order No. 121 will stay valid for a year from the date of lifting of the state of public health emergency “for the sole purposes of exhausting the remaining vaccines.”
Former president Rodrigo Duterte declared a public health emergency in the country in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency in May. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, however, noted that it does not mean it's over.
"The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that COVID-19 is nothing to worry about," he said, adding that the emergency status could be restored "if the situation changes."