ECQ passes 99% distributed

CEBU, Philippines — Around 99 percent of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) passes have already been distributed by the Cebu City government.

The city has started distributing the 178,000 QR-coded passes on June 26 through the barangay officials and the police.

Attorney Floro Casas Jr., city administrator, said they have distributed most of the passes except for the almost a thousand with defects that are still being changed and to be distributed right after. He said that the passes were printed using the existing supplies in the city hall.

“In house ra ang paghimo namo ana, so the papers we used part na sa original procurement para supplies sa city hall, the ink, kana lang gyud siya wa na namo gi-outsource,” said Casas.

On the reported fake passes that were confiscated at the police checkpoints, Casas said the serial coded sticker should serve as guide to determine if the pass is authentic or not.

“Daghan ta nadakpan ana mao strikto ang atong implementation ana. Ang atong mahibaw-an ana na dili siya fake is kanang atong sticker sa right side, serialized na siya,” said Casas.

As to the alleged confusion on the kind of material used, Casas clarified that this was already cleared with the PNP.

“First na available na paper is sinaw or glossy, tungod sa pinaspasay ang printing nahurot na ang sinaw unya ang available nalang kay ang dili sinaw. So we just use the matte, kay glossy and matte man ato, but they are the same actually,” said Casas.

“We already informed the PNP ana, I personally called Colonel (Cedric Earl) Tamayo atong CCPO Director to inform him unsay nahitabo ngano naay sinaw and dili sinaw, and I think that information was already carried to the station commanders,” he added.

Casas also clarified that sharing scheme is allowed for condominiums and apartments residents. The condominiums and apartments are allocated a number of ECQ passes which will be shared among the occupants.

These passes will be under the name of the building instead of it bearing an individual holder.

Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said that the number of ECQ passes that was issued was based on the database from the 2016 census provided by the Department of Health.

“I was told that the census was based on 2016, so that is why I urged the barangay officials together with the police for verification to sort it out with attorney Casas the city administrator,” said Labella.

Labella lamented why some people are criticizing the city government for being selective in the distribution of passes.

“You know whatever you do there will always be people who will question, especially the other side of the political fence. I’ve been appealing to them to stop political posturing, we are in the midst of this terrible crisis, this is an unforgiving virus, and everybody takes the risk, there are lives that have been lost. So let us stop our political posturing, I urged them let us work together,” said Labella.

Each barangay is assigned a quick response (QR) code, which will also determine the days the residents are allowed to leave their barangay— Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for QR code ending with odd numbers, while Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays for those with even and zero numbers.

No one will be allowed to go out during Sundays except for APOR and essential workers under the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease guidelines.

Frontliners such as health workers, food delivery service, members of media, and those working in the markets, pharmacies and banks, to name a few, are the only ones exempted from the lockdown and do not need passes.  FPL (FREEMAN)