I'm a resident of Barangay San Isidro, Parañaque City. I call on the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), DILG, DOH, Parañaque City Government, and Metro Manila Council to implore barangay officials and/or subdivision homeowners associations to allow all goods to be delivered directly to homes inside subdivisions.

I live in Greenheights Village, where the policy is currently that residents have to go to the gate to pick up "non-essential" items when they are delivered.

To be fair to our local leaders, they have conceded enough in the past days to allow the deliveries of "essential" goods and food, especially since the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) called on homeowner groups to let food deliveries enter subdivisions unimpeded.

But the policy still concerns us because it brings about more human interaction than necessary, hence increasing our exposure to Covid-19. In particular:

• We are forced to go out. Residents are obligated to leave their homes for certain packages.
• We are forced to interact with more people. Instead of just interacting with one courier, residents will interact with the security guard and possibly multiple couriers while looking for their package. Even if minimum health standards are followed, the risk is simply greater because more people are interacting.
• Some are forced to take public transportation. Residents who live much farther from the gate are obliged to walk longer distances. Then, they will take a tricycle going home, which means more human interaction than necessary.
• It is insensitive to the less privileged. The policy is insensitive to residents such as: parents alone with children who can't be left behind, people who live far from the gate and have no private transportation, senior citizens, and PWDs.
• We risk face-to-face discourse about what is "essential." There is no quick way to determine which items are essential and non-essential, especially if they are well-packaged. Discussions about this between the guards and the couriers will mean more human interaction than necessary. Some items are "non-essential," while still being highly needed by people who are staying home, like household cleaning items, grocery dry goods, hygiene products, tools and appliances, educational materials, or office supplies for work-from-home individuals. For items like these, the pick-up-at-the-gate policy only gives rise to discussion and debate between guards, couriers, and residents.
• Online purchases are discouraged at a time when they should be encouraged. Residents who need items that are deemed "non-essential," may choose to go out to commercial spaces instead of ordering online, increasing the risk of infection.
• Couriers are at more risk. Riders are obliged to wait near the village gate for extended periods of time while they attempt to call the residents who will receive their items. Sometimes they have no choice but to interact with each other, which increases the risk of COVID-19 transmission between them, and therefore, the residents.
• Some items were ordered prior to the lockdown. Because of the quarantine, most residents now avoid ordering "unnecessary" items. But items ordered prior to the announcement of the lockdown are still arriving. While some residents simply opt to cancel certain orders when they arrive at the gate, there's no denying the inconvenience to the couriers, who are already outdoors and at risk. Since we are trying to suppress a highly infectious virus, their welfare is also ours.

What do we suggest? We are willing to find stricter neighborhood solutions for deliveries, such as:

• Allowing all deliveries while exhorting all residents to follow strict hygiene protocol and social distancing when receiving items;
• Requiring "package receiving areas" for households who are expecting deliveries, such as a chair or table on the sidewalk or driveway;
• Have roving barangay or village officials do random checks on different streets for whether social distancing is being followed by couriers and residents.

Why are we resorting to a petition addressed to the IATF?

For Barangay San Isidro, we asked our Barangay LGU. While Punong Barangay Noel Japlos’s announcements via the barangay's Facebook page are expected to be considered official, concerns addressed to this page are not viewed as such, because critical comments are seldom acknowledged satisfactorily. Due to this lack of clarity, citizens resort to discussing policy minutiae amongst themselves on public Facebook groups such as "Parañaqueños" and "I LUV GREENHEIGHTS." We understand the struggle of barangay officials, but are put off by how disgruntled citizens are dismissed as retractors or "bashers" (via RB Noel Japlos FB Live videos). While we sympathize with their overwhelm, we now feel that it's more productive to escalate our concerns to higher authorities.

In our subdivision, we asked our Homeowners Association. At first HOA officers referred to the barangay and the city government as the source of this directive, but they finally told us that it was created by the IATF. However, upon checking the IATF's Omnibus Guidelines on Quarantine Implementation (March 28, 2021 update), we were unable to find the said directive under the ECQ guidelines. Instead, we find the following clauses:

• "Strict home quarantine shall be observed in all households, and the movement of all residents shall be limited to accessing essential goods and services" — But instead of limiting our movements, the pick-up-at-the-gate policy promotes movement.
• "Logistics service providers" such as "delivery and courier services" are "are allowed to operate, work, or be undertaken for the duration of the ECQ ... with full on-site capacity" — But instead of allowing couriers to operate regularly, we are causing a huge disruption to their workflow.

We can't help but think that our local leadership may have misinterpreted the IATF directives, to the detriment of public health.

We are speaking from our own little neighborhood, but we hope this petition is considered for ALL gated communities in Parañaque City — or anywhere in the Philippines for that matter. Because we are ALL catalysts in the prevention of local virus transmission.

To the IATF and/or DILG, we call on you to encourage safer counter-Covid-19 policies everywhere so that we can truly "Heal as One." In particular, we request for delivery services to operate as usual in gated communities so that citizens are better enabled to follow quarantine rules.