The modified enhanced community quarantine being implemented in Antique has allowed tricycles to ply the streets of the provincial capital town.

“San Jose de Buenavista has about 3,600 tricycle drivers who lost income due to (the) coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) because of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) implementation but little by little, they are allowed go back to their livelihood,” San Jose de Buenavista Mayor Elmer Untaran said in an interview on Friday.

Untaran said under Executive Order 40-A, tricycle drivers are allowed to ply the streets provided that they will be regulated.

“Only 270 tricycle drivers are being allowed to operate in a day,” he said.

Tricycle drivers have agreed to take turns in plying the streets. They also committed to observing social distancing by taking in only two passengers per trip.

This system will continue until the modified ECQ is lifted possibly on April 30.

Meanwhile, Untaran described the vegetable production initiated by the provincial government in various barangays in the province as very helpful.

He said on April 15, vegetables were delivered to vendors in the town’s 28 barangays, who in turn will sell them to residents.

“There are three vendors in every barangay of San Jose de Buenavista who had been delivered with vegetables last April 15,” Untaran said, adding that the initiative, apart from making vegetables accessible to barangay folks, would also decongest the markets.

The provincial government, through the Office of the Provincial Agriculture, has allocated PHP1.5 million to purchase the vegetables from local farmers.

“The income of the vendors will be rolled out so that they would have money to buy their next supply of vegetables,” he said. (PNA)