LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal inter-agency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases junked a proposal to request the national inter-agency task force to place the municipality under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) similar to the current status of the National Capital Region (NCR) plus bubble and decided that the locality will still remain under the prevailing general community quarantine (GCQ) up to the end of the month.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda stated that the local task force members saw the projected difficulty in the further downgrading of the town’s community quarantine status aside from its serious negative impact to the local economy and the movement of people from other areas that is why the body decided to maintain the current GCQ status and adopt stringent restrictions on the movement of people to contain the surge in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
In lieu of the proposed ECQ status for the municipality, the task force will embark on the strict implementation of localized lockdowns as the case may be while business operations will be limited from 6 am to 9 pm Mondays to Saturdays.
On Sundays, the local chief executive said that the business operations will be from 6 am to 1 pm only where authorized persons outside residence will be allowed to purchase goods for their needs while Sunday afternoons will be devoted for the disinfection of the establishments.
Mayor Salda added that the local government will also strictly implement the color-coded market day for the residents from Mondays to Saturdays and that market passes issued by the 16 barangays will be strictly checked at the entrance of every establishment and at the public market.
He reminded individuals aged 15 and below and 65 and above and those with co-morbidities that they are not allowed to go out of their homes, except for essential, medical and emergency purposes.
According to him, the local government will be restoring the strict implement of the curfew in the municipality which will be from 9 pm to 5 am.
Further, social gatherings will have to be approved by the concerned barangay where the same will be conducted before the municipal government will be issuing the permit for the same pursuant to the prescribed limitations where wakes will be limited to 3 days with a maximum of 10 people in attendance at one time while the conduct of weddings and baptisms will be upon the recommendation of the barangays.
The mayor pointed out that the local government does not want to make the lives of the people miserable with the implementation of the stringent rules and regulations but what is being considered is their overall health and safety as local officials do not want that their health condition will be compromised by contracting the deadly virus.
He urged residents to continue cooperating with the prevailing implementation of the community quarantine rules and regulations so that the further spread of the virus will be contained to pave the way for the possible easing up of the ongoing restrictions caused by the recent surge in the number of COVID cases regionwide.
Salda asserted that local officials understand the ordeal that the residents are experiencing but they must continue to understand the situation so as not to compromise the health care system. By HENT