Pandemic highlights ‘innate discipline’ of the summer capital’s residents

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — In this summer capital, discipline in the time of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic goes a long way.

While most of Luzon have been preparing to transition into a more relaxed community quarantine, physical distancing in public places remains a challenge to contain the spread of the virus.

But authorities in Baguio, with the help of the community, have long been taking their battle against COVID-19 a notch higher.

Before April ended, police had painted sidewalks with disks, or circles, 1 meter apart to keep the health protocol of physical distancing. The disks were first installed in the public market to avoid crowding and later replicated on Session Road, a major commercial area.

Pedestrians on Session Road also followed a one-way scheme to prevent virus transmission, walking in the same direction and guided by painted directional arrows along the road. Those going up the street take the right sidewalk and those heading downward use the other side of the road.

Counterflow is not allowed in any of the five crosswalks.

Plastic dividers

Jeepney and taxi drivers are adapting to the new normal, too, putting plastic dividers and space for physical distancing. The idea came from a jeepney owner from Barangay Dontogan.

As of Monday, 516 jeepneys and 600 taxis were allowed to operate.

The city council approved a resolution encouraging residents to use bicycles until the mass public transport system would return to normal. Even during a stricter enhanced community quarantine last month, it already allowed the temporary operation of bicycle supply and repair shops for three days to support this call.

City officials have also implemented market window hours since the onset of the Luzon lockdown, clustering the residents by district of 128 villages. Only residents with quarantine passes based on their schedule are allowed entry into the market.

Policemen were deployed to man the checkpoints and entry points to the market.

At least nine market sections are monitored daily and only stalls for essential goods are allowed to operate. Vendors were asked to install plastic covers on selling counters.

Improving parks

Since no one was allowed to stroll in tourist spots, including Burnham Park, trees and flowers flourished during the Luzon quarantine.

Tourism remains at the bottom of a list of industries that have been given priority for reopening.

The city’s environment staff concentrated on improving parks like the Botanical Garden, resuming a program to rehabilitate and reforest under a redevelopment initiative, said Rhenan Diwas, assistant city environment officer.

“I realized that flowers lasted longer [when people were restricted indoors during the quarantine],” Diwas said.

About 80 percent of businesses resumed operations on June 1 when the city transitioned to modified general community quarantine, which officials attributed to the “innate discipline” of residents that was evident during the quarantine period.

“We can win against this disease so long as we do not let our guards down. We will not slacken in our resolve to keep the virus at bay while we slowly open up our economy,” said Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

—Valerie Damian