Page:Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Republic Act 11469) on Filipino Official Gazette.pdf/2

2 to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the Code Alert System for COVID-19 was raised to Code Red Sublevel Two (2) in accordance with the recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. Further Presidential Proclamation No. 929, s. 2020, was issued declaring a State of Calamity throughout the Philippines and imposed an Enhanced Community Quarantine throughout Luzon.

In view of the continuing rise of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the serious threat to the health, safety, security, and lives of our countrymen, the long-term adverse effects on their means of livelihood, and the severe disruption of economic activities, a state of national emergency is hereby declared over the entire country.

Declaration of Policy.—The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected nations worldwide, including the Philippines, and has caused and is continuing to cause loss of lives and disruption to the economy. Thus, there is an urgent need to: (a) mitigate, if not contain, the transmission of COVID-19; (b) immediately mobilize assistance in the provision of basic necessities to families and individuals affected by the imposition of Community Quarantine, especially indigents and their families; (c) undertake measures that will prevent the overburdening of the healthcare system; (d) immediately and amply provide healthcare, including medical tests and treatments, to COVID-19 patients, persons under investigation (PUIS), or persons under monitoring (PUMs); (e) undertake a program for recovery and rehabilitation, including a social amelioration program and provision of safety nets to all affected sectors; (f) ensure that there is sufficient, adequate and readily available funding to undertake the foregoing; (g) partner with the private sector and other stakeholders to deliver these measures and programs quickly and efficiently; and (h) promote and protect the collective interests of all Filipinos in these challenging times. By reason thereof, and in order to optimize the efforts of the President to carry out the tasks needed to implement the aforementioned policy, it is imperative to grant him authority subject to such limitations as hereinafter provided.