Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella assures again that the city will not implement a lockdown yet because there is no COVID-19 case in the city. | CDN File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has reiterated that the city will not be placed on lockdown yet amid the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
But Labella said that the Cebu City government would strictly implement the curfew ordinance to minors.
The mayor reiterated his assurance a day after he announced on March 13 that no lockdown would be implemented.
This was because the city had no recorded positive case of COVID-19.
Despite his no lockdown assurance on March 13, messages still circulated about warning people and businesses of an impending lockdown.
Labella said on Saturday, March 14, 2020, that his executive order encouraging the public to avoid travels outside the city was not a lockdown but a mere encouragement of social distancing.
Cebu City workers living outside the city can still travel to their workplaces.
Unnecessary entry or exits to the city, however, are discouraged but not prohibited.
Read more: Labella suspends classes in all levels until March 28
“There is no lockdown. We are only encouraging the public to stay within the city as much as they can but there is no lockdown,” said the mayor.
No lockdown, but curfew to be implemented
Meanwhile, curfew hours for minors will be strictly implemented in the city.
Minors are not allowed to loiter outside their homes from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily in accordance to the City Ordinance 1786 or the Curfew Ordinance of the City.
The city’s police and barangay tanods will be tasked to ensure minors are brought home if found loitering in the streets.
Labella said the city is also intensifying its preparations for a possible positive case of the virus in the city.
Read more: Cebu City Council pushes for quarantine rooms in barangays
The barangays are already encouraged to prepare for a community quarantine, Labella said.
He also assured the city’s Association of Barangay Councils, who expressed their concern over the difficulty of a community quarantine, that the city would be ready to assist them anytime.
“Magtinabangay lang ta. (We will help each other),” he said. /dbs