CEBU CITY, Philippines — Barangay Guadalupe, the largest barangay in Cebu City, has closed its borders to non-residents except for essential health workers and other frontliners.
Guadalupe village chief, Michael Gacasan, told CDN Digital that the closure of the borders is a precautionary measure as Guadalupe has one of the highest numbers of persons under monitoring (PUM) and second only to Barrio Luz in the number of positive Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases with five.
He said they do not want to wait for the cases to rise, which prompted them to close the borders now to prevent the spread of the virus.
However, the closure of the border is not a total lockdown as Gacasan said frontliners may still be allowed to go out and work outside of Guadalupe.
Delivery of goods also remain unhampered although there is only one entry and exit point. M. Velez Street is the only entry point while V. Rama Street is the only exit point.
This way, the police can easily monitor the entry and exit of both people and vehicles.
“Ang amoa, ang taga Guadalupe, diri nalang sila mangompra, mamalit sa ilang kailangan. Di na sila mang[C]arbon. Wala na puy magsulod-gawas nga di taga Guadalupe kay di baya nato matrace asa na sila gikan,” said Gacasan.
(What we want is that those from Guadalupe, they buy their needs here. They will no longer go to the Carbon market. No one should also go in and out who are not from Guadalupe because we cannot trace where they are from.)
Those who need to go out of Guadalupe should show their identification cards and their certification of employment.
Motorcycle deliveries
One of the challenges that the village faces now is the constant movement of motorcycle deliveries.
Gacasan said they discourage the entry or the exit of these motorcycle delivery services unless they are from Guadalupe themselves.
He said that they may allow food to be delivered outside Guadalupe, but the delivery of food from outside to inside of Guadalupe would be strictly monitored.
“Daghan kaayo silang mga motor sigeg deliver gawas-sulod sa Guadalupe gud. Maglisod mig monitor. Unta katong mga delivery nga taga Guadalupe, sila ra say magdeliver sa Guadalupe,” said Gacasan.
(There are too many motorcycle deliveries going in and out of Guadalupe. They are difficult to monitor. We want that the motorcycle deliverymen living in Guadalupe would be the only ones doing the deliveries here.)
Vehicle passes
Guadalupe Police Station Police Captain Janelito Marquez told CDN Digital that so far, since the implementation of the closing of the borders, the village remained generally peaceful.
“So far, permi gyud mi ga assist sa atong mga barangay officials dinhi in maning the borders para ma apprehend nato ning mga ECQ violators and kining sa border control,” he said.
(So far, we are always assisting our barangay officials in manning the borders to apprehend the Enhanced Community Quarantine violators and for the border control).
With the closing of the borders, residents from the barangay can no longer go out of the borders easily if they do not hold vehicle passes, which will not be given to every resident but only to those workers who are working outside the barangay and patients who are scheduled for weekly check ups in a hospital.
“Dili na maka gawas atong mga residente og dili ra importante ilang mga tuyo. Mga frontliners, mga ga trabaho sa banko, BPO or kining mga kailangan mo adto sa hospital mao ray matagaan sa atong vehicle pass,” he added.
(Residents can no longer go out if it is not important. Only frontliners, those working in the bank, BPO or those who need to go to the hospitals will be given vehicle passes.)
As of now, Marquez and his team are still waiting for the vehicle passes to be given to them by the Cebu City Police Office so they can start distributing these to residents of the barangay. /bmjo