Let’s see what Cimatu can do for Cebu

I watched President Duterte’s speech during a Cabinet or Inter-Agency Task Force of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) meeting last night where he ordered Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, a former Armed Forces chief, to Cebu City to look into and make recommendations on how the government will proceed in addressing rising COVID-19 cases in the city.

Duterte said that General Cimatu would head an “adjunct” agency to the IATF-EID in Cebu City. As the president said partly in Binisaya, “all he has to do, not for permission, but to advise Manila, here, that these things are being done, these things are not yet done, these things must be done.” He added, “I must have the picture of how grave... the situations are. I need to know.”

Indeed, while the rest of the country transitioned into the looser General Community Quarantine GCQ) on June 15, Cebu City was placed back on an Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) from June 16 to 30. According to the IATF-EID, this was due to “increasing number of new cases” and “widespread transmission” of COVID-19 in most of Cebu City’s barangays.

Peace adviser Carlito Galvez said at the meeting that he would also fly to Cebu City, along with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, to meet with regional IATF and assist Cimatu on his new task. As I pointed out in my column yesterday, it is because we are an indisciplined people, which is why infections have since gone up.

Of course we Cebuanos are at fault for not keeping our social distancing or wearing of masks. Remember the time when Cebuanos went to Carbon market without social distancing? In fairness to our supermarkets and grocery stores, they force you to go social distancing. But Cebu City, too, has made a huge mistake when they allowed senior citizens to line up and get their money without social distancing and despite the rains. Why was this changed when a month earlier they would go house to house to distribute the money of the seniors in their respective houses? Why was this good idea changed and turned into a bad idea?

Meanwhile, just a week ago, we learned that the IATF-EID chief implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., was reportedly impressed with the Cebu City’s quarantine facility at the North Reclamation Area. Galvez, with Dr. Tony Leachon, inspected the CCQC and other COVID-19 facilities in the city when he lauded the city government for having Cebu City Quarantine Center that is equipped with negative pressure and other equipment, which even Manila does not have that kind of facility. But then all of the sudden Cebu City was back in ECQ?

Meanwhile, the FREEMAN reported last Monday that the Cebu City Health Office reported 37 cases, 42 recoveries and one death on June 22. SunStar reported that Cebu City has now recorded 4,449 COVID-19 infections. The Department of Health (DOH) logged 630 COVID-19 cases in the country, pushing national tally to 30,682. Death toll is at 1,177 while 8,143 have so far recovered. At this point, we welcome the move of President Duterte, which really shows that he cares for his fellow Cebuanos. So we welcome General Cimatu and let us see what he can do to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

In another related news, we learned that violators of the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in Lapu-Lapu City have increased to more than 300 since its implementation, as pointed out by Police Colonel Clarito Baja, Lapu-Lapu City Police (LLCPO) Director. Colonel Baja said that since the implementation of the GCQ, they were able to record at least 200 violators, 60 people for going out without quarantine pass and at least 50 for violation of the number coding scheme for vehicles.

He said that these violators were merely reprimanded based on the City ordinance where first offense is reprimand, while the second offense is pegged at P1,000 and third offense is P3,000. Colonel Baja added that those who were reprimanded were listed in their database for tracking, but since then no person has violated the ordinance for the second time, which meant that those apprehended learned their lessons.

The quarantine control posts (QCP) in Lapu-Lapu City were strictly manned to intensify the implementation of the mandatory wearing of facemasks. Baja also appealed to the public not to be complacent in the GCQ protocols even now that the City is placed under GCQ.

*  *  *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]  or [email protected] . His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com .