DILG clarifies senior citizens may buy essential goods and services

August 27, 2020

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Thursday clarified that senior citizens may go out of their homes and go to commercial establishments to access essential goods and services.

Interior Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said under the provisions of the IATF-MEID Omnibus Guidelines, it is clear senior citizens may go out of their residences and enter commercial establishments for purposes of obtaining essential goods and services and for work in permitted industries, including those in the informal setting in all areas under the community quarantine.

Last August 16, DILG recently issued Memorandum Circular No. 2020-110, known as the “Rule of Mobility of Older Persons in Quarantine Situations as Prescribed by the IATF-MEID”, which clarifies that “All LGUs, down to the barangay level, implementing modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), general community quarantine (GCQ), and modified GCQ pursuant to the IATF-EID Omnibus Guidelines shall not implement 24/7 lockdown on older persons in their homes.”

“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. Thus, they may be exempted from the 8 pm-5 am curfew in Metro Manila if they are returning home from work or if they left home to buy medicine. They would just need to show proof of their purpose to our law enforcers,” said Malaya.

He said while the movement of senior citizens needs to be restricted because they are most vulnerable to the disease, under IATF guidelines they cannot be restricted from accessing essential services.

The DILG directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) and all local government units  to ensure  allowable movement of older persons is respected and properly implemented by all government personnel, especially law enforcers such as police officers and barangay tanods.

“We place great importance in ensuring the safety of our senior citizens, but this does not mean that they should be under a 24/7 lockdown,” said Malaya.

In the same memorandum, the DILG also directed the police and barangay tanods to respect the freedom of interzonal and intrazonal movement of older persons pursuant to the IATF-EID omnibus guidelines.

In areas under ECQ and MECQ, they shall allow older persons to cross borders for medical or humanitarian purposes provided that humanitarian purposes shall include obtaining of essential goods and services that are not available in their local area.

Malaya said that in interzonal and intrazonal movement of older persons, the police and tanods must honor the senior citizen identification cards issued by the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) as guaranteed by Republic Act No. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

“It will be beneficial to further protect the rights of our senior citizens if we have the OSCA involved in this matter. While it is imperative to have coordination with their LGUs, establishing the OSCA as one of the referral and coordination mechanisms of the LGU for these affairs will ensure concerns of this sector will be effectively addressed,” he said.

The memorandum also enjoins the OSCA to set up help desks and a telephone or cellphone hotline to assist older persons in filing complaints or charges against any individual, establishment, business entity, institution, or agency refusing to comply with the guidelines set in the MC.

The OSCA will also conduct proactive monitoring of commercial establishments permitted to operate by the IATF-EID with respect to their compliance with the guidelines set in this Memorandum Circular.

Malaya said the DILG encourages LGUs to ensure that the OSCA is represented in all meetings and activities of the Logistics and Resources Support Team (LRST) and the Local COVID-19 Task Force. Ella Dionisio/DMS