Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has suspended a controversial plan to reduce physical distancing among passengers in public transport vehicles amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying he would await President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision on the matter, the Palace said Thursday.
In a virtual Palace briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Tugade announced his decision to revert physical distancing in public transportation to one meter in a meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on Thursday.
“The 0.75 meter rule is suspended. We are back to the one-meter rule until the President decides on this matter,” Roque said.
On Wednesday, Roque said the IATF met for six hours on Sept. 15 to reassess the policy to relax physical distancing guidelines following opposition to the plan from medical groups.
He said the task force has decided to come up with a recommendation that it submitted to Duterte on Thursday.
Roque said Tugade decided to suspend the 0.75 meter physical distancing between passengers so as not to pressure the President.
On Monday, the government started implementing the directive to decrease physical distancing inside public utility vehicles to 0.75 meters from one meter.
The distancing would then be reduced to 0.5 meters (about 1.8 feet) on Sept. 28 and 0.3 meters (about a foot) starting Oct. 12.
Medical groups opposed the move, warning that it could lead to an increase in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said they prefer maintaining a one-meter distance between passengers to contain the spread of the COVID-19.
Año said he supports the one-meter distance as it follows minimum health standards, saying the economy can be opened but to sacrifice the one-meter distance was “non-negotiable.”
The easing of physical distancing drew support, however, a group led by two former Department of Health (DOH) secretaries.
Senator Christopher Go, meanwhile, said the government should just allow more public utility vehicles on the road instead of reducing the physical distance among passengers.
“Let us not gamble on the possibility that the disease will spread. We do not want that the number of those infected will increase again,” Go said.
Earlier, the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 said that while it recognizes the need to further open up the economy, the decision to gradually reduce physical distancing on public vehicles was made “too early.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto batted for the return of traditional jeepneys, saying their open windows and a layout guarantee a free flow of air, making them “one of the safest forms of public transportation.”
Recto said it was a pity that only a third of jeepneys in Metro Manila have been allowed to operate.
“For every jeepney denied to operate are hundreds of breadwinners denied a safe ride to work and back home,” he said.