Stranded individuals, persons with vital travel allowed to move within Metro Manila

June 3, 2020

The commander of Joint Task Force COVID Shield on Wednesday reminded the public that only locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and indispensable travel by persons are allowed to go within Metro Manila or within a province without travel authority.

Police Lt. General Guillermo Eleazar said the  government wants to ease the burden of locally stranded individuals from processing documents because of the emergency situations they are into.

 “If a person in Metro Manila is an LSI or he/she needs to travel due to family and medical emergencies and the destination is outside Metro Manila, then he/she still needs to secure a travel authority,” said Eleazar.

Eleazar made the clarification amid reports that there were some people who have been insisting to pass in the police and soldier-manned Quarantine Control Points (QCPs) due to misinterpretation that the implementation of the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and Modified GCQ means that they could now travel anytime and anywhere they want to go.

“The same is true in the provinces. If a person in a province is an LSI or the travel is an indispensable one, he/she is excused from securing a travel authority if the movement is within the province,” he said.

“But if the travel would require crossing the border of another province or another region, then he/she still needs to secure a travel authority,” he added.

Eleazar said people who are allowed to travel in areas that involve crossing the borders of Metro Manila and provinces without a travel authority are the immediate family of those who died and critical medical emergencies that include dialysis treatment, immediate operations and other life and death situations.

He said LSIs refer to the students, workers and other people who were forced to stay in various areas away from their homes because of the strict implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) for more than two months.

Based on the instruction of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, availing of the travel authority was simplified and made accessible.

Eleazar said those who want to secure travel authority only needs to go to the city or municipal police station.

Only a medical clearance certificate from the city and municipal health office is needed in securing a travel authority.

The medical clearance certificate is submitted to help desks of police offices mentioned above, depending on the destination of the travel.

Once the travel authority is approved, the police personnel manning the help desk would notify the person to pick up the hard copy of the travel authority, or, the travel authority could be sent via e-mail or any messaging apps like messenger or viber.

Since the travel restrictions for non-LSIs and the non-indispensable travels remain, Eleazar advised the public to avoid unnecessary travels.

“The reason why cargoes were allowed to pass unhampered across the country since the start of the ECQ is to ensure that food and other basic commodities are all available in various localities,” he said.

“So instead of travelling anywhere, we encourage our kababayan to stay in their community and avail of those goods and services in their respective localities,” he added. Ella Dionisio/DMS