City weighing to lift lockdown in 2 areas

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City government is currently assessing the lockdown imposed on Barangays Mambaling and Tejero.

Barangays Mambaling and Tejero are among the four areas which were still under lockdown and were recently assessed by the city.  The other two barangays include Bacayan and Sitio Zapatera in Barangay Luz whose lockdown were recently lifted on June 3 and June 4, 2020, respectively.

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said that the City Health Department (CHD) is still conducting its evaluation on the areas on whether it would be advisable to lift the lockdown.

“There are still areas under lockdown like in the case of Mambaling and Tejero (which are) still being evaluated by the city health office. (They) will submit their recommendation to the Office of the Mayor and in coordination with the Regional Police Office-7.  The decision would be arrived at on whether or not the lockdown of these two barangays will be lifted,” said Labella.

The Department of Health (DOH) had earlier recommended that at least eight barangays in Cebu City remain on enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), even as the city and the rest of Cebu have transitioned to general community quarantine (GCQ) last June 1.

Those ordered to remain in ECQ include Barangays Luz, Bacayan, Carreta, Sawang Calero, Suba, Tejero, Labangon, and Mambaling.

City Legal Officer Rey Gealon has said that lifting a lockdown will be based on the recommendation of city health officials after their assessment would show that the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the area has lowered.

The CHD recommendation will be sent to the Incident Command System (ICS), which will come up with a resolution requesting the mayor to lift the lockdown.

The mayor will then issue a memorandum to lift the lockdown.  GAN (FREEMAN)