Workers in Cebu province need online pass to cross Cebu City

The province of Cebu has started utilizing a mobile application to grant border permits to its residents who work in Cebu City.

On August 5, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia issued Executive Order (EO) No. 20-C which requires residents of the province who work in Cebu City and vice versa to apply for a work travel pass through the WeTrace app in order to cross borders.

“Persons working in permitted establishments located within the City of Cebu but who are residing in MGCQ and other GCQ areas and vice versa shall be allowed entry into the Province provided that they can present a work travel pass (WTP) through their mobile devices via WeTrace App,” read the EO.

To be granted a pass, applicants must upload their medical certificate, company IDs, certificate of employment, and an ID picture to the app. Their respective local government units may then approve or reject applications through WeTrace.

Applications began last Saturday, August 8, and was supposed to end by Monday, August 10. However, the Capitol Public Information Office announced that the application period has been extended to August 12 to give residents more time to process their applications.

The province of Cebu has been under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) since June 29. Cebu City, meanwhile, was downgraded from modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ) on July 31.

During that time, the two local governments maintained strict implementation of border control, not allowing anyone except identified essential workers to cross the boundaries.

The WeTrace app was initially designed to expedite contact tracing operations in the province.

In April, Garcia issued EO No. 5-P, which requires all residents of the province to download the application so they can report COVID-19 cases near them or alert authorities if they have been in recent contact with a COVID-19 patient.

On Monday, the Philippines reported 136,638 coronavirus cases, including 2,293 deaths and 68,159 recoveries. – Rappler.com