The government’s commitment to ensure the health and safety of film and audiovisual content workers as operations resume amid the COVID-19 pandemic is made possible through the Joint Administrative Order No. 2020-001 of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Department of Health (DOH), which is endorsed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

The FDCP-DOLE-DOH Joint Administrative Order No. 2020-001 is a tripartite government issuance that sets the minimum public health and safety standards that production shoots must abide by for the protection of all film and audiovisual content workers. It was signed with immediate effectivity on June 7, 2020 by FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño-Seguerra, DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III, and DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III.

The DOLE and DOH, as line agencies that cover all sectors, collaborated with FDCP which served as a participating agency in providing context, inputs, and recommendations on the health and safety guidelines governing film and audiovisual production activities. The guidelines of the FDCP-DOLE-DOH Joint Administrative Order No. 2020-001 are implemented by the Safe Filming Program of the FDCP in partnership with DOLE and DOH.

The collaboration of FDCP, DOLE, and DOH in the Safe Filming Program involves the crucial role of local government units (LGUs) as these are tasked to monitor if activities in their jurisdictions are in accordance with local community quarantine guidelines as well as the Omnibus Guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID). 

On July 30, 2020, the DILG officially endorsed the FDCP-DOLE-DOH Joint Administrative Order No. 2020-001 to all local government units (LGUs) through Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2020-107 signed by DILG Secretary Eduardo Año. The DILG MC, which was issued to take effect immediately, was addressed to all provincial governors, city and municipal mayors, punong barangays, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Minister of Local Government, and DILG Regional Directors.

All LGUs are tasked to implement and monitor compliance with COVID-19 mitigating guidelines as stated in Article VIII (D) of the FDCP-DOLE-DOH Joint Administrative Order No. 2020-001. LGUs will also submit reports to FDCP on the compliance of production shoots. If there are violations, LGUs will impose the necessary sanctions according to IATF guidelines.

The DILG MC also laid out guidelines on the application for and issuance of local film permits and licenses. A production company is required to submit an FDCP certification that it has fully complied with the documentary requirements of the FDCP-DOLE-DOH Joint Administrative Order No. 2020-001. Applications are encouraged to be done online and the LGUs’ processing time is limited to three calendar days.

The DILG MC was released on the same day that the FDCP, DOLE, and DOH issued a joint statement to clarify questions and misconceptions surrounding the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 2020-001, particularly the mandates of each joint agency, the coverage of the JAO, reportorial requirements before the conduct of shoots, consultations done during the drafting of the issuance, and the creation of sector-specific guidelines by the private sector.

The DILG’s endorsement of the FDCP-DOLE-DOH Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 2020-001 is a product of the inter-agency meeting held on July 6, 2020, which led to the release of the joint statement as well as the pledge of support by other agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Education in the interest of protecting film and audiovisual content workers and their families during the pandemic.