Cebu City execs: ‘We are not seeing reduction in number of COVID-19 cases’

CEBU CITY –– Cebu City officials were not surprised by the Palace’s decision to place the Queen City of the South under modified enhanced community quarantine.

“The circumstances here would still bring us under an ECQ because we are not seeing any reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases in our city. They are continuously increasing,” said Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Tuesday announced that Cebu City, together with Metro Manila, and the province of Laguna, would be placed under “modified” ECQ from May 16 to May 31.

Under a modified ECQ, people will be allowed to leave their homes only to obtain essential goods and go to work in industries allowed to resume by the government.

There will also be a limited reopening of select manufacturing and processing plants while transportation will be allowed but only for “essential goods and services.”

As of May 11, Cebu City has 1,683 COVID-19 cases or a majority of the island’s 1,906 cases.

“Hopefully, there can be a solution,” Rama said.

The INQUIRER repeatedly tried to get the reaction of Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, and city health department chief Daisy Villa but they did not answer the phone calls on Tuesday.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia supported the decision to put Cebu province from ECQ to the general community quarantine (GCQ).

Despite the shift to GCQ, she said strict border control with Cebu City would still be enforced considering the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city.

“At this point, I think the province is ready for transition (to GCQ),” Garcia said.

“It is about time that we resuscitate our struggling economy and take steps to improve the lives of people who are now suffering because of this,” she added.

The governor said the province was able to keep the positive cases to “a bare minimum” because of strict border controls for those who travel to and from Cebu City.

She said this would continue even after May 15.

The transition period to GCQ would be done gradually, Garcia said, as protocols on gatherings, sanitation, and hygiene would have to be enforced.

Garcia said the province would have to continue its COVID-19 testing using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), prioritizing patients manifesting symptoms of the disease while the economy was transitioning from ECQ to GCQ.

She said that her administration would also make sure to protect those who are immunocompromised and have pre-existing medical conditions.

During the GCQ, she said she would start the shift from being a tourism hub to a “self-sustaining Cebu,” anchored mostly on agriculture development dubbed as enhanced countryside development.

“In the meantime, we need to get the economy back and running,” she said.

LZB