MANILA, Philippines — Commuters called attention to the possible effects of the curfews in Metro Manila's cities on commuters working late hours, many of whom already have to reckon with a pronounced shortage in public transportation options amid the coronavirus pandemic.
To recall, the Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier this week called on Metro Manila mayors to implement uniform curfew hours, citing the sharp rise in coronavirus cases in recent days.
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In a statement sent to reporters Thursday, Primo Morillo, who serves as the convenor of commuter advocacy group The Passenger Forum appealed for the situation of nightshift workers to be taken into consideration in implementing curfews.
“A significant percentage of the National Capital Region workforce works at night or in the so-called graveyard shift, and they commute regularly within curfew hours,” he said.
"The move to implement uniform curfew hours certainly helps them but we also call on our government to standardize and simplify the policies how our nightshift workers can avail of their exemption from curfews."
In most cities where curfews have been hoisted anew, only a select few including healthcare workers, essential workers, police, and military personnel have been granted exemptions from the curfews.
RELATED: LIST: Curfews declared by Metro Manila cities amid spike in COVID-19 cases
Outside of these localities, the Philippine National Police has also ordered intensified police deployment in the cities of Malabon, Navotas and Pasay, where cases are also slowly rising, to enforce coronavirus protocols.
Police have also been ordered by the interior department to penalize any quarantine violators found in the streets.
The Passenger Forum in its statement suggested that the exemption must be instantly accorded to employees who can show an ID or document proving that they are working in industries or companies that require them to work at night.
“The policy must be simple to lessen the inconvenience brought to these workers who will still commute during a time when it is not easy to find public transportation especially during curfew hours. We appeal to enforcers to be considerate since these workers are already tired and the current situation of our public transportation is not helping them,” Morillo said.
According to the group's monitoring, it said, the already-scarce number of public utility vehicles allowed to ply their routes by the national government dips to more drastic lows at night.
“This is especially true for those who ride the EDSA Bus Carousel System. Some workers choose to book TNVS units or taxicabs instead but we need to understand that most of them can’t afford this luxury,” Morillo said.
READ: Allowing more PUVs will help ensure compliance to COVID-19 protocols — commuter group
In an earlier release, the group appealed to the Department of Transportation to allow more PUVs to ply their routes to help ensure physical distancing protocols. This came after the government's Inter-Agency Council for Traffic announced that it would
As it stands, the Department of Health in its latest tally Wednesday afternoon placed the country's caseload at 603,308.