Cebu City quarantine passes suspended
Hard lockdown in barangays with massive COVID-19 cases mulled – Cimatu
Quarantine passes in Cebu City have been suspended due to the increasing number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Wednesday.
With its cancellation, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said that the whole of Cebu City is now on a “lockdown.”
But Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who was recently assigned by President Duterte to oversee the implementation of the
measures against the COVID-19 pandemic in Cebu City, said the government may even impose “hard lockdowns” in areas where there is massive COVID-19 infections.
“We might impose granular strict or hard lockdown on barangays and communities with massive COVID-19 cases,” Cimatu said.
President Duterte reverted Cebu City to the strictest lockdown level – the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) effective June 16 until June 30, limiting its economic activity to utility services, food, water, and other essential sectors.
With Cebu City placed under ECQ, additional police officers have been deployed in the area to ensure that strict quarantine measures are followed, Año said in an interview over ABS-CBN.
He added that members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were also dispatched as the residents need to be strictly quarantined in their respective houses.
Malacañang said Cimatu may exercise all powers in order to curb the rise of COVID-19 cases in Cebu City, which already passed the 4,000-mark this week.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, in an interview with ANC’s “Headstart,” said Cimatu was free to do everything he had to do but he just needed to notify the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
“The mandate, really, is to do everything that can be done to avoid a spike in cases in Cebu City and to manage the number of new cases being reported from the city,” Roque said on Wednesday morning.
“I will stay in Cebu for as long as it takes, for as long as the coronavirus disease problem is still here,” Cimatu said in virtual presser Tuesday night in Cebu City.
Cimatu said the President’s specific instruction was for him to go to Cebu, look at the situation, specifically on the sudden rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, and to help implement ECQ protocols and guidelines.
“I accepted the challenge as an overseer in the management of ECQ and find solutions to the COVID-19 situation in the city,” added Cimatu.
Leyte next
After Cebu City, Año said the national government will also monitor the situation in Leyte following reports of a surge in COVID19 cases in the province.
National Task Force on COVID19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez will visit and check the situation in Tacloban City.
He said there is a need to check Leyte’s sudden spike of COVID-19 cases due to locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who returned to the province.
The DILG chief said that they will coordinate with Leyte’s local officials to determine the actual situation on the ground and to identify the assistance needed to prevent the spread of the virus. (With a report from Argyll B. Geducos)