Cebuanos ‘violated’ rules, all for ‘binignit’

CEBU, Philippines —  Despite the deluge of buyers of binignit ingredients, the office of Cebu City Market Administrator clarified that it was able to control the situation in Carbon Market complex last Maundy Thursday, April 9, 2020.

Nevertheless, the office said that the social distancing protocol was violated that day.

This after a post went viral online showing Carbon being flooded with people wanting to buy ingredients for binignit, a popular local delicacy during Holy Week.

Jonil Matuguina, city market administrator, said that it was stated in the post that the authorities were able to control the situation by 11 a.m., but he clarified the picture was taken at 6:09 a.m. and the situation was already controlled by 6:30 a.m.

“I would like to set the record straight: It wasn’t 11 o’clock, it was 6:09 na-picturan. After that it was controlled, it wasn’t a whole day situation,” said Matuguina.

“Naa gyud tay designated entry points ato, kani sa Escano (Street). Tungod sa kadako sa area of responsibility, naay nakalusot. Unya atong police murag kulangan og mga tao ato na mga panahon,” he added.

Matuguina said that the police personnel were guarding the entry points at that time and there were also market personnel inside trying to control the people.

He said that they implemented maximum tolerance in controlling the crowd.

“We implemented maximum tolerance kay init na ang mga ulo sa tao ato,” said Matuguina.

He said that they were not anticipating the big crowd to gather that day.

“We were anticipating na dili sab ingana ka daghan ang mga tao kay normal days dili man ingana,” said Matuguina.

There were around 3,000 market goers during that day, Matuguina said that they were not expecting that the residents from other barangays and city would go to Carbon which has added to the volume of buyers.

“Naa man passes ang mga tao, abi namo ang mga tua sa lain lagyong barangay ug taga lain lungsod dili mangabot,” he said.

Matuguina said that they only allow 40 people at a time to enter Carbon, but since it is a complex with lots of streets, and not just one building unlike the other markets such as in T. Padilla, Pardo and Ramos, it is much harder to control.

He said that the social distancing order was violated, despite the rules implemented by the authorities.

“Na-violate gyud, unya we are thinking unta the Cebuanos are law abiding people. We should not always blame the authorities and the government, because it is a personal responsibility to follow the social distancing. We already know the consequence, unya ngano di man nato i-practice? Maghulat diay ta na badlongon ta? Di na ta mag pa abot na badlongon ta,” said Matuguina.

Matuguina is asking for patience and understanding from the market goers to bear with the city market authorities in the need to implement strict social measures in observing social distancing.  JMD (FREEMAN)