Baguio readies for ‘new normal’, shortens curfew hours, eases lockdown

BAGUIO CITY—To help residents transition to a “new normal” and revive the economy, city government restrictions on movement will start to with a shorter curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. that allows some businesses and food establishments to extend their operating hours, Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong announced on Friday (June 26).

Baguio residents have adapted to the quarantine which had taken over their lives for the past 103 days, and can become “accustomed to new social norms that are centered on health and disease prevention,” Magalong said.

A three-day-per-week schedule for purchasing items or meals at shopping malls and the public market will be enforced on June 29, and the market will now be open on Sundays beginning on July 5, the mayor said in a notice posted by the city public information office.

Shortly after Baguio went on quarantine to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in March, designated members of each family were given two days each week to leave their homes and replenish food stock and medicine.

This continued to be the policy in June when Baguio transitioned to a modified general community quarantine which allowed more businesses to open.

No one was allowed to leave their homes during Sundays, partly to relieve policemen and village leaders who are tasked each day with monitoring and securing streets as more people went out to work.

The Sunday lockdown will now be lifted.

The mayor had also requested places like Camp John Hay to consider opening its leisure spots for children and their grandparents on Sundays, the only day they can stretch their legs outside their homes.

The board of directors of the John Hay Management Corp. will review a set of proposed health and security guidelines for Magalong’s request on June 29, the PIO said.

Relaxing some of the lockdown rules is not an invitation for people to go out anytime, Magalong said, stressing that quarantine restrictions apply to people younger than 21 years old or 60 years old or older. Those who are pregnant or who have serious ailments are also required to stay indoors, he said.

The mayor said he does not see an end to the pandemic in the next few months, so residents must continue to wear face masks in public, maintain a safe distance from each other at work or out in the streets, “make a habit of sanitizing and hand washing, and to go out only when necessary.”

TSB