It would be up to the Department of Labor and Employment(DOLE) if it would ask the private sector to also extend hazard pay for their employees who have been required to go to work, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said on Monday.

IATF spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles made the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte issued Administrative Order No. 25, authorizing the grant of hazard pay to government personnel who physically report for work during the period of implementation of an enhanced community quarantine relative to the COVID-19 outbreak.

"So far, we haven't yet discussed about it at the IATF," he said in the press briefing when asked if there would also be an order mandating private employers to provide hazard pay for employees working during the lockdown period.

"Maybe the best there is to talk with the Department of Labor to release guidelines regarding that," he said.

Nograles said he would ask the DOLE regarding hazard pay for private workers.

The official also said the IATF did not issue guidelines requiring those who would enter the supermarkets to wear mask, otherwise, they would not be allowed inside.

He said the IATF rule inside the supermarkets is to observe social distancing.

"The supermarkets can determine how many will be allowed inside to make sure that there is social distancing...that's the only rule of the IATF," he said.

There were reports that some grocery stores did not allow shoppers to go inside if they were not wearing a mask.

Nograles also warned local government officials who would collect fees for passes and take advantage of the people while under the lockdown.

"Just a reminder, on a state of calamity, any abuses may result to charges with maximum penalty," he said.

The whole of Luzon has been placed under enhanced community quarantine or lockdown wherein the people have been advised to stay home, except from some sectors, and travels have been restricted.

Local government units in other areas, such as in Visayas and Mindanao, have been implementing their own precautions against the spread of COVID-19. Celerina Monte/DMS