Isko places Manila’s Barangay 20 under 24-hour shutdown for holding bingo, boxing games

Update

MANILA, Philippines – Mayor Isko Moreno on Monday issued an order placing Barangay 20 in Tondo, Manila under a 24-hour ‘shutdown’ starting Tuesday night after it was revealed that residents have violated the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) regulations.

According to Manila’s Public Information Office (MPIO), Moreno’s decision to craft Executive Order No. 19 came upon learning that residents were engaged in leisurely activities like boxing and bingo — outrightly violating physical distancing measures and travel restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the shutdown, all residents of the said barangay will be restricted from leaving their homes, while control of the barangay council’s operations would be ceded to the local government unit.

“During the said shutdown period, all residents of the said barangay shall be strictly confined to their residences and are prohibited from going out of their houses,” the executive order stated.

While the shutdown is in effect, Moreno ordered disease surveillance, testing, and rapid risk assessment operations in the area.

However, he also clarified that health workers living in the barangay, along with members of law enforcement agencies like the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine Coast Guard are allowed to leave the place

“All commercial, industrial, retail, institutional and other activities in the said barangay shall be suspended within the specified period of the shutdown,” he explained.

In Executive Order No. 19, it was mentioned that a video was posted on social media showing that around one hundred persons were participating in an “informally organized boxing match” along a street in Barangay 20.

“The video shows blatant violations of the enhanced community quarantine guidelines and social distancing protocols thereby creating immense risk of exposure and contraction of COVID-19 to those involved in the event,” the executive order said.

Police officers from the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 2 have been deployed in strategic locations to enforce the shutdown. Manila’s local government said that Barangay 20, which lies in Zone 2, District 1, has a population of 41,334.

Manila and the rest of Luzon are still under the ECQ, which is scheduled to end on April 30, due to the rising COVID-19 cases.  In the capital city, there are now 323 patients infected with the latest coronavirus strain, with over 490 patients still under investigation.

DOH officials said that as of Monday, there are 4,932 infected patients — 315 of which have already died while at least 242 have recovered.

READ: Luzon-wide quarantine extended until April 30–IATF

Worldwide, over 1.8 million individuals have been infected, while 114,063 have died from the disease and 421,500 have recovered from it.