For the rest of August: Labella wants GCQ to remain

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella prefers that the city would remain under general community quarantine (GCQ) after August 15, 2020.

"Well, of course, we will be happy if there's going to be a downgrading to modified general community quarantine, but if you ask me, I would rather that we maintain the general (community) quarantine status," Labella said yesterday.

Labella said it is easier to control the movement of people under GCQ.

For one, the city government implemented the QR-coded quarantine passes scheme even if the city was already downgraded to GCQ starting August 1.

"It was proven very effective, especially during the masses and during the control of people entering our malls and other commercial establishments," Labella said.

With the scheme, residents – with the exception of essential workers – can only go out of their homes on days stipulated in the pass.

"Because we have learned a painful lesson when we had the first GCQ and we simply disregarded the use of quarantine passes. There was a surge. So, it is good that there is better control of the movement of people," Labella said.

The Inter-Agency Task Force recommended that Cebu City be put back under ECQ in June following a surge of cases when the city was under GCQ.

President Rodrigo Duterte also sent Secretary Roy Cimatu to Cebu to oversee the implementation of quarantine rules. Immediately, policemen from other regions and troops from the Special Action Force (SAF) were deployed to the city to help enforce protocols.

The Air Force also sent a medical team to help out, especially that hospitals were overwhelmed with cases at that time.

Malacañang is expected to announce the new quarantine classifications of local government units for the remainder of August on August 15.

Stiffer penalties

Even as Cebu City is now under GCQ, quarantine rules remain in place and are implemented strictly.

In fact, the ordinance that imposes stiffer penalties for Cebu City residents who violate quarantine restrictions will take effect on August 16.

Councilors David Tumulak, Raymond Alvin Garcia, and Phillip Zafra authored the ordinance, which the City Council approved on June 26.

Under the ordinance, violators of rules during a public health crisis may be fined and imprisoned.

First time offenders may be fined P1,500 and imprisoned for less than 30 days, or both, at the discretion of the court. Second time offenders will be fined P3,000 and imprisoned for 30 days while third time offenders may be fined P5,000 and jailed for 30 days.

The violator will also be disqualified from receiving the cash incentive from the city, financial assistance, grant, tax amnesty, or other monetary and financial benefits, if any, for two years since the penalties were imposed.

Meanwhile, businesses that violate rules may find their licenses revoked or their establishments closed down.

"Kato sauna, ato lang unang community service, exercise, because there was no ordinance yet. In order for us to impose sanction, there has to be an ordinance. Now that there's already an ordinance, we can already impose sanctions," Labella said.

No room for complacency

Labella appealed to the public to not be complacent because the fight against COVID-19, an invisible enemy, is not yet over.

"Let us not flaunt the gains that we have attained. But, we should, on the other hand consider this as a challenge to all of us. Because there are now more people going out in the streets, so we should be more vigilant, more alert, more active, and more careful," he said.

He reminded Cebuanos that "quarantine" means stay home and a resident should only go out if there is a need to buy food, medicine, and other essential goods.

"The virus is still very much around. Naa pa gyud ang virus. Naa sa ato gatuyok-tuyok lang, so importante nga we have to adopt self-discipline," said Labella.

(The virus is still very much around. It’s still here, just lingering around, so it’s important that we adopt self-discipline.)

"We really have to look at the behavior of people, the attitude. They should continue, maintain self-discipline and observe the minimum health protocols," he said.

Based on Monday’s update from the Department of Health (DOH) -7, Cebu City recorded only 11 new cases and no new death.

The city has a total of 9,222 confirmed cases with 1,724 still active. At least 603 have died. The good news is that 34 more recovered on Monday, putting the total number of recoveries to 6,895.

Work travel pass

Meanwhile, residents of Cebu Province who only need to cross Cebu City to work in another local government unit don’t have to get a Work Travel Pass (WTP) through the WeTrace App.

For example, a resident of Minglanilla who needs to work in Lapu-Lapu City but has to cross Cebu City does not need to get a WTP but only needs to apply for a Transit Vehicle Pass, said Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

"Duna naman tay previous nga executive order ana nga kung mu-cross lang sila, issue-han sila og travel vehicle pass. Ang presumption ana, naa na silay travel vehicle pass," Garcia said.

Garcia said her newly signed EO covers residents of the province who will resume working in Cebu City now that the city is under general community quarantine.

"Therefore, there are additional establishments that are now allowed to open and when these establishments opened, there are workers coming from the province who can now resume working again in Cebu City. Mao to silay mangayo og WTP," Garcia said.

She said the new measure is meant to monitor these workers and avoid what happened in June when only a certificate of employment and company ID were required to cross the border when Cebu City first transitioned to GCQ.

"It is said that those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are bound to repeat them and I do not intend to repeat that mistake,” Garcia said.

She clarified that processing of WTP applications will continue even as the requirement takes effect today, August 12.

"Di man na ingon nga by August 12 dili na mi mo-process but we are just saying until makakuha sila nianang ilang WTP, they cannot enter, so expected unta by 12:01 August 12 mao na na ang gamiton," Garcia said.

(It doesn’t mean that we will stop processing today. We’re only saying that they cannot enter Cebu City unless they can get the WTP because that is what will be used starting 12:01 of August 12.)

"Hangtod wala pa sila kakuha, we will continue to process it. Dili lang sila diritso kasulod diri (Cebu City) kay kay pangitaan sila so continuing man ang process," Garcia added.

(We will continue to process. Until they can get one, they will not be able to enter Cebu City easily.)

As of Tuesday, at least 40,895 have applied from the pass. Of this number, 8,832 have been approved; 15,055 were denied; and 17,008 are set for approval. — JMO (FREEMAN)