Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu challenged city and barangay (village) officials in Cebu City to aim for the downgrading of the current enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to a lower risk classification.
Cimatu issued the challenge during a press briefing with Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and other officials after making rounds of high-risk barangays, particularly Mambaling which is considered as the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis in Cebu.
“My challenge to the barangay captains is to aspire that goal to lower the confirmed cases here,” he said in mixed Filipino and English. The cases should stop increasing in the next few days, the environment chief added.
“I am tapping barangay captains in imposing granular lockdown on sitios or barangays with high cases of coronavirus.”
The environment head said he is tapping barangay captains in imposing granular lockdown on sitios or barangays with high cases of coronavirus.
With the cooperation of village officials, Cimatu said he is optimistic that the city will graduate to lower classification, depending on the aggressive enforcement of stringent quarantine protocols and guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
He revealed that he is organizing two task forces – Task Force Cebu City and Task Force Cebu Province – whose task is to assist him and the IATF-IED in implementing intensified efforts with the aim to arrest the growing number of COVID-19 cases.
Cimatu who was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte to oversee the government interventions against COVID-19, visited Barangay Mambaling to see for himself the situation, particularly in Sitio Alaska, where the infection rate is high.
In Mambaling, he said, the coronavirus could easily spread because the houses are very close to each other.
Cimatu stressed he will also monitor hospital occupancy as well as the demand for more medical frontliners who can attend to the needs of the COVID-19 patients.
“Involvement of the PNP and AFP personnel in enforcing stringent measures would be a big factor.”
Labella meanwhile said the “involvement of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines personnel in enforcing stringent measures would be a big factor in pursuing the ideals” in the fight against COVID-19.
“I am hoping we can downgrade to general community quarantine so that those who are now in no work no pay (that) really suffered can go back to work,” Labella said.
The city government through the Cebu City Council will pass an ordinance for the release of P500 million to be utilized to assist city residents during the second ECQ implementation.
Labella added that Cebu City Hall is now devising a system that would ensure each household will get only one quarantine pass unlike before when a family had five passes.