THE City Government of Davao granted exemptions on particular international and domestic air travels to and from the city after Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio imposed suspension of flights.

On March 19, Duterte-Carpio issued Executive Order (EO) No. 18, an amendment which grants flight exemption in EOs No. 12 and 13 suspending all domestic and international air travel to and from Davao City.

The new EO states that there is a need to exempt particular international and domestic air travels to maintain the delivery of basic government services.

Covered in the exemption includes the cargo flights, medical evacuations through air ambulance, weather mitigation flights, maintenance flights, government and military flights, emergency landings, and recovery flights for expatriates – provided that each flight is subjected to prior clearance by the City Government.

Emergency landing, meanwhile, specifies that all crew and passengers will not disembark as much as possible; and if disembarkation is needed, crew and passengers will be contained in an isolation room in the airport.

The order will be lifted once the Presidential Proclamation 922 or the State of Public Health Emergency is lifted.

The Regional Peace and Order Council and Regional Development Council, chaired both by Duterte-Carpio, created the Davao Region Covid-19 Task Force to implement a regionwide unified effort across local government units to contain the Covid-19 infection.

The task force shall implement suspension of land, sea, and domestic air travel for 14 days, and may be reduced to seven days upon review of infectious disease specialist consultant.

At present, entry within the region is barred.

Although everyone can leave the region anytime, no one can come back in the next 14 days.