MEMORANDUM FROM THE OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

TO : CHED CENTRAL AND REGIONAL OFFICIALS AND STAFF

UNIFAST SECRETARIAT OFFICIALS AND STAFF
CLIENT AND STAKEHOLDERS OF CHED

SUBJECT : CHED OFFICE OPERATIONS BEGINNING 01 JUNE 2020

DATE : 28 MAY 2020

Pursuant to the pronouncement of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, upon the recommendation of
Inter-agency Task Force (IATF), through Resolution No. 41, that all Highly Urbanized Cities
(HUCs) of the National Capital Region (NCR) and the Municipality of Pateros shall be placed
under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) until 15 June 2020, and by virtue of Commission
En Banc (CEB) Resolution No. 217-2020, CHED Central and Regional Offices will operate as
follows:

1. All offices must be operational at least within usual 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. business
hours;

2. Considering that mass transportation is not yet in a full operational capacity, especially in
the National Capital Region (NCR), CHED Central Offices and CHED Regional Offices
IV-A, MIMAROPA, and NCR may continue to adopt alternative work arrangements
primarily through skeleton workforce and work from home arrangements. The minimum
number required to man the office will be determined by the Director or Officer-in-Charge
(OIC) concerned;

3. Regional Offices may adopt the three-day workweek and 2-days work-from-home
arrangement to complete the 40-hour workweek. When feasible, CHED offices may
provide shuttle service for their skeleton workforce, subject to accounting and auditing
rules and regulations. The distance of the residence from the office and the availability of
private transportation should also be considered;

4. The Director or OIC shall consider the following in the formulation of work from home
schedules of personnel under their supervision:

a. Work from home for the following:

i. Research;

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 ii. Drafting of CHED policies, review, and/or amendment of the same;
iii. Data encoding and/or processing;
iv. Budget planning and forecasting;
v. Review of requests and cases, including legal work, review of
applications, permits, and recognition;
vi. Preparation of information materials;
vii. Recording, examination, and interpretation of financial records and
reports;
viii. Evaluation and formulation of accounting, auditing, and management
control systems;
ix. Sending, receiving of emails, coordination of complaints and/or requests
for assistance;
x. HR tasks; and,
xi. Other analogous tasks that require the use of computer and internet
connection for reading, encoding, printing, and/or submission of written
outputs for the review, evaluation, and/or final presentation/assessment of
the immediate supervisor, the head of the office, or the management.

b. Personnel under work from home arrangement shall make themselves available
during the work hours that they are at home;

c. Confidential and proprietary information shall be protected and secured at all

times;

d. Personnel who are:

i. below twenty-one (21) years old;
ii. sixty (60) years old and above;
iii. with immunodeficiencies;
iv. with comorbidities;
v. with other health risks;
vi. pregnant women;
vii. with the aforementioned; and
viii. residing in areas placed under M/ECQ,

shall be under work from home arrangement, except when their services are
indispensable under the circumstances or when office work is permitted; and

e. Those under work from home arrangements must be monitored daily by the
Director or OIC concerned and must consolidate and submit office and individual
accomplishment reports every week. For CHED Central Offices, submissions
shall be sent through the Office of the Executive Director via

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 executivedirector@ched.gov.ph every Monday morning, while for Regional Office
personnel, submissions are to be sent through the emails of their Director or OIC
concerned.

5. All officials/employees/staff and the public should follow health and hygiene protocols
and other public medical standards, including the following:

a. Prior to the entrance in CHED’s buildings, all officials/employees/staff and the

public shall:
i. Wear face masks and/or transparent face shield at all times;
ii. Accomplish daily the online health declaration form accessible via
bit.ly/CHEDhealthdeclaration and present the acknowledgment email
containing one’s responses to the guard or to the designated safety
officer for screening and clearance prior to entry; Printed copies of the
said form shall also be made available at the lobby entrance for manual
accomplishment;
iii. Have their temperature checked. Any personnel or the public with a
temperature of ​>​37.5 degrees Celsius, even after a five (5) minute rest, or
if their response in the health declaration form needs further evaluation by
clinical staff, shall not be allowed entry to CHED’s buildings. An isolation
area may be established for this purpose.

b. Inside CHED’s buildings:

i. All personnel, whether in office workstations or other areas, shall always

practice physical distancing at the minimum of one (1) meter radius space
(sides, back, and front) between each other;
ii. All should follow cues, signages, dividers, ropes, and maximum capacity
in the elevators, common comfort rooms, and other communal areas;
iii. Frequently touched objects and surfaces such as doorknobs and handles
shall be cleaned and disinfected regularly, at least every hour;
iv. All washrooms and toilets shall have sufficient water and soap. All
personnel are encouraged to wash their hands frequently and avoid
touching their eyes, nose, and mouth;
v. Alcohol and/or sanitizers shall be made available in corridors, conference
areas, elevators, stairways, and areas where people pass;
vi. Eating in communal areas is discouraged. It is best if personnel bring their
own food and eat in individual work areas. If eating in an individual work
area is not possible, the Director or OIC concerned shall ensure that
physical distancing is maintained in dining areas;
vii. Dining areas, pantries, tables, and chairs shall be cleaned and disinfected
regularly especially every after use of the area; and
viii. All wastes shall be disposed of properly.

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c. On client transactions, receiving of parcels and/or documents:

i. Online systems shall be highly encouraged to be utilized for client

transactions, including the use of videoconferencing, teleconferencing,
electronic mail, and other social media platforms. Videoconferencing shall
be adopted especially in meetings that would require lengthy discussions;
ii. Walk-in-clients are highly discouraged. In situations and/or requests that
would require the physical presence of the client in CHED’s buildings, a
no mask, no entry policy shall be strictly implemented. There shall be
designated areas for the accommodation of those clients. The designated
areas should be arranged in a manner that will maintain proper physical
distancing. It may be done by putting in place barriers or other safety
measures. In meetings, masks shall be worn at all times and shall not be
removed. Meetings must be kept to a minimum number of participants
and within a short duration of time;
iii. Receiving documents shall be centralized. Personnel receiving and/or
releasing documents from and for the public, should use disposable
gloves, eye or face protection, or wash hands often (entirely including
nails and back of the hand) with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
after exchanging and/or touching paperwork. For inter-office physical
exchange of documentation, assign a tray to deposit paperwork,
separated two (2) meters or six (6) feet from an individual workstation;
and
iv. Personal deliveries are highly discouraged. In case there is a need,
personal deliveries must be done in the lobby areas only.

d. On reducing the spread and risk of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19):

i. In the event that a CHED employee is suspected of having COVID-19:

1. The employee shall immediately proceed to the isolation area

designated in the workplace and shall never remove their mask;
2. Clinic personnel or personnel attending to the employee should
wear appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), and if
needed, should require the transport of the affected employee to
the nearest hospital or health facility;
3. Decontamination of the workplace should be observed thereafter
by using the appropriate disinfectants. The office building shall be
closed for personnel until it has been properly disinfected and
sanitized;
4. Personnel present in the work area with the said employee shall
go on a 14-day quarantine with specific instructions from the clinic

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 staff on the monitoring of symptoms and on the guidance for the
next possible steps. If the said employee was tested to have a
negative result, co-employees may be allowed to report back to
work; and
5. In the event that an employee is sick or has flu-like symptoms but
is not suspected to have COVID-19, the Director or OIC
concerned must advise the employee to take prudent measures to
limit the spread of communicable diseases, examples of which are
as follows:

a. Stay at home and keep away from crowds;

b. Take adequate rest and take plenty of fluids;

c. Practice good personal hygiene to prevent the spread of

disease; and

d. Seek appropriate medical care if there is persistent fever,

when the difficulty of breathing has started or when s/he
becomes weak.

6. The Administrative, Financial, and Management Service or its counterpart division or

office, must ensure the following:

a. Provision of face masks, sanitation mats, alcohol, sanitizers, soap, water, and
dryers in hand wash areas in entry points and/or inside the respective offices and
common areas;
b. Facilities are provided with cues, signages, markers, ropes, dividers and the like
to facilitate the observance of physical distancing;
c. The frequent disinfection and decontamination of surfaces, workplaces,
elevators, common areas, buildings, facilities, and vehicles; and
d. Security personnel is tasked to ensure the conduct of proper physical distancing.

7. Health/psychosocial interventions like stress debriefing shall be afforded by the office

heads for all its personnel as one of the adequate support mechanisms;

8. Flag raising ceremonies shall remain suspended. The flag shall, however, be raised
every Monday morning and retreated every Friday afternoon; and

9. All official meetings, seminars, training, and other functions shall follow the health
protocols as specified under IATF Resolutions if under General Community Quarantine
or Modified General Community Quarantine. Those training that would require
participation from the public should be conducted through videoconferencing.

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All Central offices are directed to submit their respective personnel’s accomplished ​daily health
declaration forms accessible via ​bit.ly/CHEDhealthdeclaration​, work plans for a two-week
duration, and a request for the provision of shuttle services for personnel who will be having
difficulty in terms of transportation, on or before 12:00 noon of June 1, 2020 (Monday) through
hrmd@ched.gov.ph, copy furnished executivedirector@ched.gov.ph.

The implementation of the submitted work plans will be observed and evaluated.
Recommended changes, if any, will be presented to the CEB for consideration and approval.

For your immediate and appropriate action.

ATTY. CINDERELLA FILIPINA S. BENITEZ-JARO

Executive Director IV