Ports shut down, classes, cockfighting halted as Oriental Mindoro scrambles to fight COVID-19

CITY OF CALAPAN — Travels will be restricted, classes suspended and cockfighting halted in Oriental Mindoro as the province will be placed under “voluntary community quarantine” to prevent the entry and spread of coronavirus disease.

Governor Humerlito Dolor on Friday issued Executive Order No. 2022, which bars the entry of “all people, regardless of their origin and mode of travel” during the 12-day lockdown, starting at 12:01 p.m. on Saturday, March 14 until 11:59 p.m. on March 25.

However, travel outside of the province is allowed.

Classes in all levels, in private and public schools, are suspended starting Monday, read the executive order passed by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) led by Dolor.

During the lockdown, the provincial government will implement a four-day workweek schedule wherein workers will only report to offices on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with duty hours beginning 7 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m., except for department heads and program implementers who would also have to work on Wednesdays.

Cockfighting will also be halted and huge public or mass gatherings will be canceled while fisherfolks who are within the municipal waters will be allowed to go back to the mainland so long as they had no contact with other people outside.

In an earlier interview, Dolor said some events that are expected to draw huge crowds at the 12th founding anniversary of this city on March 21 were postponed by officials as a preventive measure against the spread of COVID-19.

The lockdown will affect thousands of travelers from Western Visayas who pass through the Strong Republic Nautical Highway.

Exemptions

The following are among those not covered by lockdown:

• Entry of goods and commodities like food, fuel medicines and other medical needs, animal food and construction supplies.
• Medical doctors working in the province
• Returning local officials who traveled for purposes of preventing COVID-19 and maintaining peace and order

Read the attached executive order for other exemptions.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2, which outbreak started in China’s Wuhan City in Hubei province in late 2019.

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic as it has infected over 110,000 people and killed more than 3,000 globally.

SARS-CoV-2 causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.