DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Davao City Government will be distributing a new food and medicine (FM) pass before Christmas Day with a color-coding scheme. The pass will bring back the protocol of limiting one person per family to go out for essential activities or work.
The Liga ng Barangay president, Councilor Edgar Ibuyan Sr., made this announcement during an interview at the City Government’s DXQQ last Thursday, that barangay councils have been distributing the passes and verifying residents in their respective barangays.
Ibuyan said they are targeting to finish it within the week.
To clarify confusion from residents who still hold the previous FM pass, Ibuyan explained that the new pass will have a new layout and features that are helpful for quick identification.
Compared to the old black and white FM card distributed in the enhanced community quarantine, the new FM pass will have a color-coded scheme to identify the residency of the holder.
The new layout assigns the color green for residents in the first district, blue for the second district, and Red for the third district of Davao City. The control number is also made bigger.
Ibuyan also added that all barangay councils are now doing the verification of households, especially for boarding houses and apartments to avoid problems during the full implementation of the ordinance. Some residents living in apartments and boarding houses previously complained of not receiving FM passes during the ECQ.
There are also new or old residents who have entered Davao after the ECQ was lifted and need to be part of the new FM pass scheme.
The Davao City Council also passed the FM Pass Ordinance last Tuesday regulating its use.
The FM pass allows two individuals per household to be registered with the FM Pass, but only one person can use it at any given time in any congressional district provided that they can present a valid identification card for verification of the bearer.
It also mandates an odd/even numbering scheme through the last digit of the control number to regulate residents from going outside to buy food and medicine.
FM passes with numbers 1, 3,5,7,9 can only be used on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while holders with numbers 0, 2,4,6,8 are allowed to use their passes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
The ordinance mandates that FM pass cannot be used during curfew hours. It also restricted minors and senior citizens from using FM passes unless they have clearance from the barangay that they live alone or living with an immune-compromised individual.
Section 3 of the ordinance mandates that all holders “should keep the FM passes safely and undamaged”, and keep a copy of their control number.
Damaged cards must be reported to the barangay for the holder to obtain a temporary barangay certificate as a replacement that is valid for a specific time until it is replaced with a card. The ordinance also stated damaged cards would be replaced only once.
There is still no announcement from the City Government of Davao as to when the new FM Pass will be implemented.(davaotoday.com)
