Organizers of gatherings must notify the Quezon City government at least five days in advance, Mayor Joy Belmonte said on Wednesday.
To avoid super spreader events from happening in the future, organizers of gatherings for community service or humanitarian purposes should inform the city’s Department of Public Order and Safety prior five days.
The policy was contained in the latest general community quarantine of Belmonte, following several super spreader events in Barangay Matandang Balara and Holy Spirit in the past weeks that resulted in a number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
“We need to impose stricter measures to ensure that there won’t be a repeat of such incidents. We are just wasting all our efforts if there would be incidents of mass gatherings that could lead to a spike of infection,” she said.
All organizers of gatherings for community service or humanitarian purposes where people are reasonably expected to congregate in a public place must inform the DPOS at least five days in advance, providing details on the organizers’ crowd control plan.
“Event organizers have the responsibility to provide appropriate crowd control measures to avoid excessive numbers of attendees and ensure proper physical distancing, such as through the use of marshals, stubs, coupons, and similar strategies,” her order read.
The directive stated that gatherings of over 10 persons shall be prohibited, except when indispensable for work, government or humanitarian purposes.
Belmonte said religious gatherings are exempted as they may occupy up to 50 percent of venue capacity.
Hotel function rooms and similar facilities for purposes of meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions and other events may operate at 30% of venue capacity.
However, if the event is for social purposes, venue capacity shall be 20% provided the facility complies with the Safety Seal program.
She ordered hotels and other accommodation establishments in Quezon City receiving returning overseas Filipinos to report to the Office of the City Administrator for documentation and monitoring, and for guidance on health, security, and logistics protocols.
She also mandated that all returning OFs must complete a mandatory quarantine period of at least 14 days, regardless of a negative RT-PCR test result, due to the highly contagious nature of the new COVID-19 variants. If not possible, OFs could stay in an appropriate quarantine facility.
For returning OFs who are residents of Quezon City, they shall be picked-up at the hotel by the Barangay Health Emergency Response Team (BHERT) of their home barangay and continue their quarantine at their barangay quarantine facility or other facility approved by the CESU.
The City Health Department may exempt a returning OF from the aforementioned requirements provided that the returnee presents a vaccine card or equivalent document showing complete COVID-19 vaccination, but this would only apply to the City-imposed quarantine.
Belmonte warned that OFs who would misrepresent their vaccine status shall be held criminally liable under applicable law.
