Please allow seniors out

At least we got some good news when I heard that restaurants and other food establishments in Cebu and other areas under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) have been allowed to accept dine-in customers at 75 percent of their capacity starting yesterday.

Apparently, this was due to the Department of Trade and Industry issuing Memorandum Circular 20-39, which has expanded the dine-in capacity of food establishments to 75 percent from 50. For GCQ areas, dine-in capacity has been increased to 50 percent from 30 percent. Of course, Cebu City is not included here.

The DTI memorandum reads: “The operation of restaurants’ dine-in services is allowed until 11 p.m. Thus, local government units are enjoined to adjust curfew hours up to 12 midnight to allow greater daily turnover of dine-in services and enhance income opportunities for workers.” This includes Cebu province, which is now under the less stringent MGCQ, except for Talisay City and the municipalities of Minglanilla and Consolacion.

But the existing health protocols like physical distancing must be continuously observed, according to the DTI. In the memo, a family living in same household is allowed to dine together in one table. But the family must show proof that the members are living in same address and their table is distanced by at least one meter from other customers’ tables. Also, fast food businesses to serve “all kinds of foods and beverages, including alcoholic drinks, provided that a customer shall only be allowed a maximum of two individual servings of any alcoholic beverage.”

I understand that Governor Gwendolyn Garcia is set to amend her Executive Order No. 20, which outlines the MGCQ guidelines in the province to incorporate the stipulations under the new DTI memo. Of course, we can predict that most of these restaurants can only open if they have transport facilities available for their employees. It goes without saying that senior citizens should now be allowed to eat out in those restaurants. They have been incarcerated in their homes for four months; it’s really time to give them a break, with the usual protocols observed, like wearing of masks, social distancing and washing of hands.

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We read that the construction of the P100-million Cebu City Quarantine Center at the North Reclamation Area has long been completed but not a single document showing it has gone through proper bidding has been presented to the City Council. Accordingly, no bidding documents like notice of award to the contractor have been presented until now. Well, it is now up for the executive department to produce those documents. Mind you, we the taxpayers also want to know the exact details of this project. Sure, it may have been done because of the emergency situation, but now  that this project is finished, it is time for the real project cost to be published.

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When I wrote yesterday that Christianity was under attack here at home, it is due to the fact that House Deputy Speaker Rodante Marcoleta a high-ranking member of the Iglesia ni Cristo made that proposal called House Bill No. 4633, “An Act Making Hanging of Religious Mementos such as Crucifixes in Hospital Suites Optional.” Why do we need to stop this? It is because the moment this proposal gets approved, there is no telling what other plans the INC has to curtail the Catholic Church.

Why am I making an issue out of this? First of all, next year or just a few months from now, the Philippines will be celebrating its 500th year as a Christian nation in the Far East which, as you know, is full of other religions like Islam or Buddhism. We know that the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) has, for 20 years, banned Falun Gong, calling it a cult when it is not a cult. We also know that the CPP has destroyed churches and defaced many crucifixes. This is also happening in the United States of America wherein many cities are witnessing violence, looting, and killing by so-called “peace protesters,” who are only using this as a cover. They mostly belong to Black Lives Matter (BLM), which doesn’t hide their Marxist origins whose plans are really to destroy the American way of life.

Why do you think the world is suffering this global pandemic? God is now punishing humanity for its evil ways and the time has come for humanity to suffer.

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