Pasay City Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano. Pasay PIO / Teddy Ofaga
MANILA, Philippines—The local government of Pasay will not extend its curfew hours despite other Metro Manila cities implementing new rules amid the spike in the recent Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila.
Instead, the local government unit will intensify its localized lockdown that it had deemed effective in fighting the spread of the virus.
In an interview with radio program S.O.S, Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano said they’d rather intensify the current procedures her office put out rather than extend the curfew hours in the city.
“Epektibo naman po ang aming ginagawang localized lockdown at katunayan nga po ay nabawasan na ang mga kaso dito sa amin, kung noon pong mga nakaraang linggo ay halos 100 kada araw ang naitatala, ngayon po ay nasa 60 hanggang 70 na lamang po,” said Calixto-Rubiano Wednesday.
(Our localized lockdown has been effective and this has actually resulted in the decrease of cases here in our city. Last week we had 100 cases each day, now it’s down to 60 to 70.)
The mayor said that the decrease was due to “aggressive” contact-tracing efforts and the strict implementation of basic health protocols.
Cities like Parañaque and San Juan have extended their curfew hours after the recent spike in Covid-19 cases.
The Philippines tallied upwards of 3,000 cases a day the past week and Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez decided to extend the curfew hours from 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. starting Wednesday.
Calixto-Rubiano, however, pointed out that she does not want to impede the operation of local businesses which are just slowly getting back to their feet after a long slump that resulted from the long lockdown.
“Dagdag ko na rin po na talaga naman dating mababa ang kaso dito sa Pasay dahil sa ipinatutupad nating mahigpit na basic health protocols at katunayan pangalawa tayo sa may pinakamababang kaso sa lahat ng siyudad sa Metro Manila at medyo tumaas lamang nitong mga huling linggo,” said Calixto-Rubiano.
(May I add that Pasay has recorded low cases because of the implementation of our basic health protocols. Actually we have the second-lowest cases in Metro Manila cities and it only saw a bump this past week.)