Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to coordinate with the officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in the implementation of the guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) where only vaccinated individuals can attend indoor religious services.

“So atin pong ipatutupad sa BARMM areas na ‘yung mga magsasamba po sa mga mosque dapat ay bakunado (We are enforcing in the BARMM areas that those attending religious services inside the mosque should be vaccinated),’’ Año said during the Talk to the People briefing on Monday night

“Para po protektado [against Covid-19] talaga ‘yung mga kapatid nating Muslim na sumasamba sa mosque, mga bakunado lang po ‘yung papapasukin (to ensure that our Muslim brothers attending the services inside the mosque are protected, only the vaccinated will be allowed entry),’’ he said.

Earlier, the government said it will hold special vaccination days in the BARMM areas to address the low vaccination rate in the region.

“Mababa pa yung vaccination rate lalo na yung areas ng BARMM, Regions 12 [Soccsksargen], 7 [Central Visayas], medyo mababa pa yung vaccination rate diyan. So talagang sabay ito yung ginagawa natin both monitoring the violations on the election campaign and at the same time sa health protocols (The vaccination rate is low, especially in the areas of BARMM, Regions 12, 7, the vaccination rate there is still relatively low. So this is really what we are doing both monitoring the violations on the election campaign and at the same time on health protocols),” Año told reporters during the joint press conference of DILG, Commission on Elections (Comelec), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame last April 7.

He said this is the reason why they have been strict in monitoring campaign sorties in the BARMM, as this may lead to a surge in cases.

DILG spokesperson Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said the planned special vaccination days for BARMM were already given a go signal by National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.

“BARMM is a special area that we are focusing on. The big challenge really is because only 25 percent of the population there are fully vaccinated. So we are going to have special vaccination days in BARMM. Every province in the region will be the focus of intensive government intervention through the NTF to ensure that we would meet our target just like the rest of the country,” said Malaya who was also present in the same briefing.

No Granular lockdown in NCR

Meanwhile, Año also noted the continuous improvement in the country’s coronavirus disease-2019 (Covid-19) situation and for the first time, there are no granular lockdown areas in the National Capital Region (NCR).

He, however, said three granular lockdown areas are being implemented in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)’s three towns and three barangays.

If the trend continues, Año said this only means that the public’s safety against the virus is assured but stressed the need to have more people inoculated especially in the regions with low vaccination rates. (PNA)