1-meter distance between PUV passengers to stay in Cebu City

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City will continue to implement the one-meter passenger distance between passengers in public utility vehicles (PUVs), no matter what the decision of the national Interagency Task Force (IATF) will be in the future.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella on Thursday, September 17, 2020, issued a memorandum instructing the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to continue implementing the one-meter distance in all PUVs as a precaution against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

This was amid the debate on whether the public transport vehicles should adopt the gradual reduction of distance as recommended by the Department of Transporation (DOTr).

As it turns out, Labella need not worry as the one-meter distance will remain standard across the country until President Rodrigo Duterte makes a decision regarding the matter.

The President has been in a six-hour meeting with the IATF to discuss the issue and while he has no decision yet, it will be status quo.

Mayor Labella’s order will ensure that if the IATF should decide to change their mind in the coming days, the city will still keep the one-meter distancing policy inside PUVs.

“With due respect to DOTr, we will continue the imposition of one-meter distance because we can never take the risk [and the] virus is very much around. We won’t follow that because it will be very risky,” said the mayor.

The mayor added that with the increasing workplace transmission, reducing the distance between passengers will also increase the risk of transmission through public transportation. /bmjo

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