The move to put back NCR Plus — covering Metro Manila and nearby Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal provinces — under general community quarantine is a welcome development for the PBA.
The league has been planning to hold scrimmages outside NCR Plus, including Batangas City and Ilocos Norte, to get its preparations for the 46th season going.
But with President Rodrigo Duterte's approval to shift NCR Plus back to GCQ "with heightened restrictions" starting this weekend, heading outside Metro Manila may not be needed anymore,
"Also continued to be allowed in GCQ areas with heightened restrictions are non-contact sports in outdoor contact sports, games, scrimmages; and personal care services that allow for services not requiring mask removal, such as salons, parlors, beauty clinics, etc at 30% capacity," Inter-agency task force spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement Thursday.
Prior the announcement, the PBA already got the green light from the IATF to hold 5-on-5 scrimmages in venues located in general community quarantine or modified GCQ areas.
This prompted the league to make arrangements with Batangas City officials to allow several PBA clubs to use some of the city courts as practice venues.
The Meralco Bolts and the TNT Tropang GIGA will train in a bubble in Laoag, Ilocos Norte where they will be hosted by Gov. Matthew Manotoc.
As part of the league protocols, PBA teams began undergoing swab tests in preparation for their return to practices.
