Hotels in areas under modified enhanced community quarantine or MECQ can operate on a skeleton workforce to accept guests for essential reasons, according to omnibus guidelines from the Department of Trade and Industry.
Metro Manila, Laguna, Rizal, Cavite and Bulacan were placed under MECQ until April 30. Also placed under MECQ are Santiago City, Quirino and Abra.
Further details on the rules will not be available until noon on April 12, its first day of implementation. The guidelines in this story will be updated on merit.
Only accommodation establishments with a Certificate of Authority to operate from the Department of Tourism will be allowed to open their doors to guests.
Basic accommodation services are permitted. Ancillary establishments such as restaurants, cafes, bars, gyms, spas, and the like are prohibited from operating or providing room service.
Packed meals for guests are allowed, along with food orders for take-out and delivery.
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Here's who can stay in hotels during MECQ:
- guests who have existing long-term bookings
- distressed Overseas Filipino Workers and stranded Filipinos or foreign nationals
- repatriated OFWs in compliance with approved quarantine protocols
- non-OFWs who may be required to undergo mandatory facility-based quarantine
- healthcare workers and other employees from exempted establishments
Non-essential travel to and from the covered areas was barred to arrest the spread of the virus, which claimed the lives of almost 15,000 Filipinos and continues to infect more than 6,000 daily.
