The Lapu-Lapu City government has started to send food assistance to residents in Barangay Punta Engaño who were affected by the drop in tourism arrivals as a result of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat. | Photo grabbed from the Facebook page of Nagiel Bañacia
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Tourism is dubbed as the bread and butter of Cebu, including Lapu-Lapu City which prides itself as the “Historic Resort City.”
But with the drop in tourist arrivals due to the health threat of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), city’s residents who work in the tourism sector also bear the blow of the virus to their livelihood.
Read: Employment lay off possible as tourism industry in Cebu suffers due to coronavirus scare
Nagiel Bañacia, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said the city’s incident management team is now shifting its focus to “helping the affected sectors cope with the dire situation and lead them to quick recovery from the disaster.”
Annabeth Cuizon, acting chief of the City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) Office, said told CDN Digital that they will also be conducting a survey in all barangays to assess the extent of the effect of the health threat to the livelihood of the residents.
On Monday, February 24, the CSWD distributed close to P100,000 worth of food packs to at least 221 tourism workers from Barangay Punta Engaño whose source of income was affected by the low tourist arrivals. These included boatmen, babysitters, housekeepers and those who work in the aqua-sports activities.
“We are anticipating that other barangays will soon ask help from the city government since yesterday’s activity was only for Punta Engaño. We will soon conduct a survey in all barangays especially those in the northern, eastern and island barangays to see the extent of this situation,” Cuizon said.
Cuizon added that they are also coordinating with the labor and social welfare departments for alternative assistance like the implementation of the cash-for-work and voc-tech training programs for the workers in the city’s tourism industry. /dcb