178,000 quarantine passes issued to as many households in Cebu City

CEBU CITY—The city government on Friday (June 26) distributed at least 178,000 quarantine passes to as many households to allow one family member per household to go out and buy food and other necessities.

The number was 72,000 less than the 250,000 quarantine passes that the city distributed the first time that the city was placed on enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last March.

“This time, there would only be one pass per family,” said Mayor Edgardo Labella.

The passes have QR (quick response)-codes intended to be used for essential errands.

Passes with numbers ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 can be used on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays while those ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Labella said no person, except health workers and other essential employees, are allowed on the streets on Sundays.

The city government will also continue implementing the number coding scheme to regulate the number of vehicles plying its roads.

Vehicles with license plates that end in 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 may go out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Those with license plates ending in 2, 4, 6, 8, 0 can travel on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

On Sundays, no vehicles are allowed on the streets of the city.

Labella said it would be up to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for Emerging Infectious Diseases to retain or downgrade the ECQ status of Cebu City next week.

“For now, let’s follow the protocols,” he said.

At least 12 villages with high cases of COVID-19 will likely be placed on strict lockdown:

• Sambag II
• Kamputhaw
• Sambag I
• Basak San Nicolas
• Mabolo, Guadalupe
• Lahug
• Duljo Fatima
• Tinago
• Tisa
• Ermita
• Tejero.

Rey Gealon, City Hall spokesperson, said more policemen and soldiers would be deployed to the villages to enforce the stay-at-home order.

Gealon said, however, that only two villages—Sambag II and Kamputhaw—were likely to be under a full lockdown.

The other 10 villages will be under what Gealon said was segmental lockdown which meant communities or sub-villages with high cases are the ones which would be shut down.

Gealon said families who would be virtually imprisoned at home would get city government aid.

“We will provide food, water, and vitamins to villages and sitios that will be shut down,” he said.

Close to 1,000 policemen from other regions, including 160 officers of the Special Action Force from Camp Crame, arrived in Cebu City to help its 1,032 policemen enforce the ECQ.

“The troops are sent here not for any other reason except to lessen the movement of people in order to contain the spread of the virus,” said Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, Central Visayas police chief.

TSB