The Davao City government will still continue to adapt to the anti-COVID working measures to all public and private offices until June 30 this year. This according to Executive Order No. 70 issued by Mayor Sara Z. Duterte on 28 December 2020, to extend EO 56 or the order for the adoption of other alternative work arrangements in public and private offices.
“It becomes necessary to extend Executive Order No. 56 s. 2020 to continuously avoid a close contact scenario for all employees and to decongest passengers of public utility vehicles throughout the day to lessen the risk of transmission,” the mayor stated in the recent order.
Mayor Duterte’s order stated, alternative work arrangements that can be implemented in public and private offices are skeleton workforce, work-from-home, and staggered working hours.
It said the guidelines are aimed at addressing the number of individuals, socialization, and overcrowding in workplaces and establishments as clustering of coronavirus cases has been traced in work areas and spread to households.
The EO said private offices are strongly encouraged to adopt working arrangements notwithstanding the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) orders on operational capacity. Government offices and establishments on the other hand, are ordered to adopt other alternative work arrangements (OAWA) until June 30, with adherence to Civil Service Memorandum Circular 10, s. 2020, which states that government offices can opt for skeleton workforce, work-from-home, and/or staggered working hours as alternative work arrangement.
Under section 4 of EO 56, all government agencies and instrumentalities both national and local will adopt an OAWA that will fully operationalize their offices with a skeleton workforce inside the offices while others are working from home and the working hours are staggered throughout the day from seven in the morning to seven in the evening. This arrangement applies to all employees, including consultants, job orders, and contracts of service workers.
The EO also allows an employee who has a specific task to come in only when they are expected to work and may be sent home immediately after completing their task. “The hours at home will be counted as worked hours provided that they can deliver their tasks correct and complete, ” the order stated. No person should be allowed to loiter in offices.
However, the order said, OAWA will not be accepted as an excuse for the delay in government service, and that all offices should be able to deliver timely and efficient public service while in the said arrangement as per Section 8 of the order. The EO stated employees will be strictly monitored by heads of offices and make sure that they comply with the 40-hour workweek.
