Police man a border checkpoint on March 28, 2020 at the border of Talisay City and Cebu City minutes before the enhanced community quarantine has been implemented in Cebu City. | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu provincial government is considering putting up additional border checkpoints in feeder roads that may serve as alternative entry point from Cebu City into the province’s jurisdiction.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said local chief executives in the province’s towns and cities had already expressed concerns over the possible use of these feeder roads by the people who had been trying to exit Cebu City amid the spike of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases here.
The border checkpoints that are currently in place are in Barangay Bulacao and the Cebu South Coastal Road in Talisay City in the south, Mandaue City and Consolacion in the north, and Balamban town in the west.
Garcia has asked the Provincial Board Members to look into the feeder roads in their jurisdictions that may have been overlooked in the implementation of border entry restriction.
On Friday, April 17, 2020, Garcia will be meeting with the mayors to discuss further measures that may be taken in order to protect the rest of the province from COVID-19.
Read more: What to expect as Cebu province closes borders, enters ECQ
Since the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the province last March 30, the province has also closed its borders from Cebu City in view of the high number of COVID-19 cases in the city.
This means that except for exempted essential workers, persons from Cebu City are no longer allowed to enter into the province.
However, Garcia said some people from Cebu City had been scheming to leave the city to escape the scare of the pandemic.
READ: Vans, ambulances being used to ‘smuggle’ persons out of Cebu City for a fee?
For two weeks now, Cebu province has kept its number of COVID-19 cases at three with 2 recoveries and one death.