Lifting the curfew and liquor ban throughout the city last month, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will enforce again a stricter curfew and liquor ban effective October 15 in response to the rising active COVID-19 cases in the past few days.

Duterte-Carpio on Monday issued Executive Order No. 55 which reimposes the said measures, including the regulation of other activities until December 31, 2020.

According to the new memorandum, a 10-hour curfew in all public places everyday will be set from 7pm to 5am.

“There is a need to pre-empt the increase of cases due to after-work, non-essential activities during the Christmas season,” the memo read.

In a live radio interview on DCDR 87.5 FM, Duterte said that she was prompted to bring back the curfew hours after determining that COVID-19 patients admitted in Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) contracted the virus mostly from non-essential activities.

“Kani siya base ni siya sa mga interviews sa atong mga Covid-19 patients. Usually, nakita nato didto ang ilahang mga lihok. We deemed it nga kinahanaglan i-regulate kanang mga activities nga ginabuhat sa mga tao nga dili essential, dili sila sulod didto sa kanang ginasulti sa IATF Omnibus Guidelines,” Duterte-Carpio said.

“There is a pandemic, and it is a public health concern, so kinahanglan nato unahon ang public health, ang general welfare,”  the city mayor added.

The guidelines, however, indicated exemptions on the curfew hours to all government workers who are on duty during curfew hours; all private office and establishment employees who time in and time out of work within the curfew hours, this shall mean to include their travel to and from their residence; all medical doctors and veterinarians who need to work; and workers of public utility companies (energy, water, internet, etc.) conducting construction, maintenance or emergency activities.

In addition, subsistence and business fishing activities are also exempted from the curfew since their vessels are subject to lawful inspection by the Maritime Police, Task Force Davao, Navy or Coast Guard, if there is a reasonable belief that there is illegal activity or unlawful materials in the vessel, as well as individuals attending the wake of a family member; and all medical, emergency and disaster cases.

While the curfew only covers individuals, the memorandum urges offices, establishments, places of worship, and other institutions to adjust their operating hours accordingly.

“Ang atoang [new] curfew is curfew sa tao. Walay curfew sa establishments. So kamo na mag-decide based sa assessment sa inyohang business. But we encourage na mag adjust mo sa inyohang operating hours (We only imposed curfew to the people, not specifically on establishments. So it is up to them to decide if they would operate beyond curfew. But we encourage them to adjust their operating hours),” Duterte-Carpio said.

With the implementation, the operation of the recently reopened Roxas night market will be limited to two hours, from 5pm to 7pm, compared to the previous 5pm to 11pm working hours.

Employees operating during curfew hours are required to present their identification cards to inspectors at checkpoints.

As the liquor ban will also be imposed during curfew hours, drinking in public places such as roads, alleys, open spaces, and other similar places is prohibited every day at any given time. 

Moreover, the operation of sari-sari stores will also adhere to the curfew hours. In particular, this also affects business time in Roxas night market as it will only operate from 5pm to 7pm.

The city government also prohibits establishments such as karaokes and sing-along places without permit to operate  while videokes in residences are unallowed from 10pm to 5am.

As of October 11, the city has a total of 2,363 Covid-19 cases, the highest in the entire Davao Region. Active cases are at 499, while 1,767 already recovered, and 97 died.

In one of Sunstar’s articles, Octa Research COVID-19 monitoring report on October 6 indicated Davao del Sur and Davao City as among the areas outside Luzon “where the pandemic is getting worse” albeit a downtrend in new cases across the country.

Currently, Davao City is under modified general community quarantine which is the lowest quarantine status. Duterte-Carpio said that she knows no initial information yet from IATF if the city will revert to MECQ or ECQ.