Tacloban waives market, terminal rental fees

TACLOBAN CITY – Traders at the city’s public market and new bus terminal here will no longer pay rental fees for March 2020 as the current health crisis affected the income of small entrepreneurs, the city government announced on Thursday.

The city council has approved Ordinance No. 2020-14-06 as a response to the current health crisis, affecting business establishments.

Lessees at the City Convention Center or Astrodome are also waived, based on the approved ordinance.

The city council cited Executive Order 2020-04-17 or intensifying the restrictions to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) that ordered the temporary closure of non-essential business operations here.

“This curtailed the movement of people and hampered the economic activity,” the city government said in a statement on Thursday.

Exempted from the temporary suspension are hospitals, basic utility providers, take-out orders in restaurants, grocery stores, laundry services, gasoline, and water refilling stations, banks, remittance centers, courier services, funeral parlors, and other essential establishments.

The directive effective from March 21 to April 12 also prohibits all land, sea, and air travel of persons to and from the city, except health workers, persons availing emergency medical services, national government workers, goods delivery service providers, and media practitioners.

During the restrictive quarantine, public transportation within the city will be allowed operation “provided that they will only transport passengers at half capacity to observe social distancing.”

As part of its additional measures to minimize the movement of people, the city has also launched the Mobile Market which allows residents the ease of buying basic goods near their homes while on strict quarantine.

As of April 1, the city has 29 patients under investigation (PUI) for Covid-19 and 222 persons under monitoring (PUM).

At least nine PUIs here have already recovered and 1,718 PUMs were cleared after completing the 14-day isolation period. (PNA)

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https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1098721
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