Republic of the Philippines

Department of Health
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

__
March 24, 2020

DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM
No. 2020 - 0134

TO: ALL UNDERSECRETARIES AND ASSISTANT

SECRETARIES; DIRECTORS OF BUREAUS, SERVICES AND
CENTERS FOR HEALTH DEVELOPMENT; MINISTER OF

___
HEALTH - BANGSAMORO AUTONOMOUS REGION_IN
MUSLIM MINDANAO; EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS OF
SPECIALTY HOSPITALS AND NATIONAL NUTRITION
COUNCIL; DIRECTOR GENERAL OF PHILIPPINES
INSTITUTE OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE AND
ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CARE; CHIEFS OF MEDICAL
CENTERS, HOSPITALS, SANITARIA AND INSTITUTES;
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE HEALTH INSURANCE
CORPORATION; DIRECTORS OF PHILIPPINE NATIONAL
AIDS COUNCIL SECRETARIAT AND TREATMENT AND
REHABILITATION CENTERS AND ALL OTHERS
CONCERNED

SUBJECT: DOH Continuity Plan for COVID-19 Response

BACKGROUND

Pursuant to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious
Disease Resolution No. 11 dated March 12, 2020, Proclamation No. 922 dated March
8, 2020 on the Declaration of a State of Public Health Emergency throughout the
Philippines, CSC MC No. 07, s. 2020 “Interim guidelines for Alternative Work
Arrangement and Support Mechanism for Workers in the Government for the
Duration of the State of Public Health Emergency Pursuant to Proclamation No. 922”
and CSC Announcement No. 12 on Alternative Work Arrangements in light of Code
Red Sublevel 2 dated March 16, 2020, the DOH hereby issues this Continuity Plan to
ensure the efficient delivery and continuity of services while preventing the spread of
COVID-19.

II. SCOPE AND COVERAGE

This Memorandum shall apply to all DOH officials, employees and other personnel,
such as but not limited to consultants, Job Order (JO) personnel/Contract of Service
(COS), Janitors, Security Guards and those under the Government Internship
Program, of the DOH Central Office.

Centers for Health Development, hospitals/sanitaria, drug abuse treatment and

tehabilitation centers, attached agencies, corporations and BANGSAMORO
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and other organizations stationed in the
DOH may adopt or
establish their own respective guidelines in the implementation of
these directives.

Building 1, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, 1003 Manila ¢ Trunk Line 651-7800 local 1108, 1111, 1112, 1113
Direct Line: 711-9502; 711-9503 Fax: 743-1829 @ URL: http://www.doh.gov.ph; e-mail: ftduque@doh.gov.ph
Il. GENERAL GUIDELINES

1. All DOH Offices shall establish a skeletal workforce and provide for work-from-
home arrangements that will ensure delivery and continuity of services in the
Department.
a. All DOH officials and employees performing functions critical to the COVID-
19 response shall report to work, subject to the rules on the establishment of
alternative work arrangements.
b. Essential non-COVID-19 work shall continue based on the assessment of
respective Team heads. Team heads shall determine whether or not employees
shall be required to report or allowed to work from home.
c. DOH personnel shall be provided adequate support in the performance of their
work under alternative work arrangements.
All DOH personnel from high-risk groups -- senior citizens with underlying health
conditions, those who are less than 60 years old with underlying susceptible health
conditions, pregnant women and persons with disabilities -- shall be under work-
from-home arrangement, unless otherwise directed.
All DOH health facilities shall remain in operation while complying with
issuances released regarding “social distancing” and “community quarantine”,
provided that mechanisms are in place for the facility to continue its functions, in
coordination with relevant government agencies.
All offices shall evaluate which frontline services and back-end services for
internal and external clients shall remain operational on a remote basis, as
reflected through a revised Citizen's Charter to be posted on the DOH website.
All offices shall develop their respective continuity plans to ensure timely
accomplishment of commitments to the strategic focus of the Department of
Health, “To catalyze the transformation of local health systems to province-wide
and city-wide health systems”.

Iv. IMPLEMENTING GUIDELINES

A. Establishment of DOH Alternative Work Arrangement

1. Skeletal Workforce

All DOH offices shall ensure the efficient delivery and continuity of services
through a skeletal workforce regardless of whether offices are considered core or
support office.

1.1. Composition of Skeletal Workforce:

a. The skeletal workforce shail only include DOH plantilla and contractual
employees (HRH, DTTB, and medical pool).
b. Non-plantilla personnel such as, but not limited to, job order personnel,
fellows, interns under Government Internship Program and those under
On-the-Job Training, consultants and employees of other organizations
stationed in the DOH shall not be included in the skeletal workforce unless
directed to report by their immediate supervisor.
1.2. Identification of Personnel under Skeletal Workforce:

a. Core DOH Offices:

The following shall be considered core offices in COVID-19 response:

a.1. Office of the Secretary
a.1.1. Media Relations Unit
a.1.2. Execom offices
a.2. COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center
a.3. Health Emergency Management Bureau
a.4. Disease Prevention and Control Bureau
a.5. Epidemiology Bureau
a.6. Bureau of International Health Cooperation
a.7. Health Promotion and Communication Service
a.8. Supply Chain Management Service including Logistics
Management Division
a.9. Food and Drug Administration
a.10. Bureau of Quarantine
a.11. Knowledge Management and Information Technology Service

1.3. These offices shall not have less than 50% of their employees physically
present or out in
the field each day. However, all COVID-19 EOC personnel shall

assume regular working days and thus all

personnel shall be present or out the in
field each day.

1.4. Offices requesting to operate with less than 50% of their staff complement
shall require approval of their respective Team Leads.

1.5. The Directors of the core offices shall be required to report daily or as
otherwise directed by their respective Team Leads.

1.6. For CHDs, all RDs, ARDs and Medical Center Chiefs/Chiefs of Hospitals
including Chiefs of DATRCs shall also be required to report daily or as otherwise
directed by their respective Team Leads. The Director of the said offices shall
determine the number of staff (technical and administrative) that will constitute
the COVID-19 response team.

b. Support Offices:

Offices not directly engaged in COVID-19 response as listed above are

hereby considered support offices in COVID-19 response. These offices
shall ensure that the following are physically present each work day in
their offices:

e Atleast one (1) director or division chief per office.

e least one (1) technical personnel for each division; and
At
@ At least one (1) administrative personnel for not more than two
divisions

Additional personnel may be directed to physically report to the office by

the immediate supervisor if absolutely needed to provide adequate support
to core offices. Provided that, unless the task at hand cannot be completed

3
 in a timely manner, the total number of personnel present in each office
should not exceed 50% of the total number of
personnel in said office.

Directors of support DOH offices may recommend a work schedule for

approval of their respective Team Leads. Approved work schedule shall
include designation of Officers-in-Charge who shall manage the operation
of the office and shall be authorized to sign routine documents to ensure
continuity of services.

2. Work-From-Home Arrangement

2.1. Identification of Personnel under Work-From-Home Arrangement

Unless otherwise instructed by the immediate supervisor, DOH personnel shall

remain in their respective residences and shall be allowed work-from-home
arrangement under the following conditions:

a. The concerned personnel are classified as high-risk employees such as,

immunocompromised, pregnant women, PWD and those with existing chronic
medical conditions, such as cancer, heart disease and severe diabetes.
b. The concerned personnel’s residence and/or duty station is under community
quarantine/enhanced community quarantine AND his/her duty station is not
identified as a Core Office in COVID-19 response (See Section III.A.1).
Provided, That the head of office shall identify personnel as skeletal
workforce subject to the guidelines under Section IILA.1.

All employees under work-from-home arrangement shall report for work upon
instruction by their immediate supervisor.

B. Support to Personnel under Alternative Work Arrangement

1. All personnel reporting to the DOH shail be provided with additional benefits and
allowances including but not limited to provision of board and lodging and
transportation arrangements, subject to applicable government rules and
regulations. Additionally, they shall be provided with personal protective
equipment to ensure their safety in the performance of their work.
All Teams shall ensure transport for employees required to report for work, at no
cost to the employee, such as but not limited to, use of official DOH vehicles,
carpooling, private sector support, within usual accounting rules and regulations.
DOH personnel under work-from-home arrangement shall be provided with
necessary information and communication technology (ICT) support (e.g. laptop,
pocket Wi-Fi, load allowances, etc.) to ensure performance and delivery of work,
subject to availability and usual accounting and auditing rules and regulations.
They shall maintain open communication lines for the duration of their work-
from-home arrangement.
The DOH policy on uniform is hereby suspended. All reporting DOH officials and
employees may wear smart casual clothing.
Mandatory use of a biometric attendance capturing machine for certification of
attendance is also hereby suspended. DOH personnel may use locator slips and
logbookas supporting documents for services rendered while under the alternative
work arrangement. Furthermore, the implementation of flexi gliding time is
likewise temporarily suspended.
 6. DOH personnel classified as PUI/COVID-19 positive personnel shall submit
themselves to self-quarantine/facility-quarantine hospital admission, as necessary.
As such, CSC M.C. No. 5,
s. 2020 entitled “Interim Guidelines on the Use of
Leave Credits for Absences Due to Self-Quarantine and/or Treatment Relative to
the Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-I9)” and corresponding PhilHealth
COVID-19 packages shall apply.
7. Regular and contractual employees may continue to earn leave credits for the
duration of the state of calamity and community quarantine due to the Corona
Virus Disease (COVID-19) provided that the conditions prescribed in this
Memorandum are met.
8. Employees who are required to report for work regularly and render additional
services beyond the regular working hours, may be entitled to payment of
overtime services provided that the conditions indicated on the rendition of OT
services under Department Order No. 2017-0418 dated November 17, 2017 is
complied with.

C. Exemptions from Alternative Work Arrangements

Personnel classified as Person Under Investigation (PUD

Work
or
diagnosed as positive for
COVID-19 shall be exempted from Alternative Arrangements and shall be
provided with support accordingly.

Resumption of physical reporting to the DOH by exempted personnel shall only be

allowed once they have either been medically cleared or the enhanced community
quarantine has been lifted, whichever is applicable.

. Monitoring and Evaluation

1. All DOH offices shall submit a list of employees under the following conditions
to the Personnel Administration Division (PAD) for monitoring purposes:
a. Employees under alternative work arrangement (skeletal and work from
home); and
b. Employees exempted from alternative work arrangement and/or under
quarantine period.
2. Office heads and/or the immediate supervisor shall also periodically monitor and
submit weekly reports on the health status of their respective personnel to PAD.
AFMT shall provide further guidelines for the implementation of this directive.
3. Personnel under work-from-home arrangement shall submit to their respective
supervisor (Division Chief, Director) their accomplishment report every last
working day of the week which shall serve as basis for the continuous release of
their salaries and emoluments. All Directors and Division Chiefs are responsible
for setting and monitoring work-from-home plans (that include deliverables and
timelines) with all staff. Work-from-home plans shall be prepared by each staff
and mutually agreed upon with the immediate supervisors. The immediate
supervisor shall attest the progress and the performance of work of the personnel
under work-from-home arrangement.
4. The salaries and benefits of regular and contractual employees shall be
as
continuously provided in
long as the conditions this directive are fully complied
with.
5. Salaries of COS/JO personnel shall follow COA-DBM Circular No. 1 dated
March 19, 2020.
E. Prohibitions

1. All DOH officials and employees are enjoined to limit the conduct of face-to-face
meetings and shall likewise maximize the use of online, video conferencing
platforms. Face-to-face meetings shall only be done if
social distancing and other
infection prevention measures can be strictly enforced throughout the duration of
these meetings.

2. Likewise, all DOH events and activities that may be considered as public
gatherings shall likewise be cancelled and/or postponed.

This shall take effect immediately, until further notice.

For strict compliance.

FRANCISCO T. DUQUE HII, MD, MSc

Secretary of Health