Volunteers disinfect the Jaclupan barangay hall. | Photo courtesy of the City of Talisay Public Information Office
CEBU CITY, Philippines -Starting at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, Talisay City can only be accessed using the Cebu Coastal South Road (CSCR).
Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas said that he will have the Natalio Bacalso Avenue access closed in order to regulate the movement of travelers to and from his city.
“Dili nata pwede muagi didto. This is for the safety of everybody para matarong gyud ug check point sa mga kapulisan ang musulod sa Talisay,” Gullas said in a Facebook post Friday night, April 17, 2020.
(We will no longer allow use of N. Bacalso Avenue. This is to ensure the safety of everybody and to ensure the proper conduct of checkpoints by the police especially for those who are entering our city,” he said.
Read: Gwen mulls more border checkpoints in feeder roads connecting province, city
Gullas made his FB post after he attended a meeting which Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia called with Cebu mayors on Friday to discuss the need to implement stricter border control measures.
Talisay City is considered as the gateway to the province because it is located next to Cebu City where about 100 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases were already reported.
Read: COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Barrio Luz with 82 new cases
In his FB post, Gullas said that he would have wanted to implement the “One Entrance Only” policy starting on Sunday, but opted to move this to Tuesday to also give countryside residents enough time to come home.
He also wanted to wait for Garcia to issue a new Executive Order based on a review of individuals who were granted exemptions during the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine.
“I know this will be difficult to some. But hopefully, our measures can help in ensuring that more COVID-19 cases will not reach towns and cities under the Province. Let’s work together to protect our city. We need to make hard decisions so that this ECQ will end sooner than later,” the mayor said.
Gullas said that the implementation of the “One Entrance Only” police will “ensure that checkpoints by the PNP will be done efficiently and with sufficient personnel.”
“Since dili naman matunga atong mga Police with two checkpoints entering Talisay. Karon matunga man kay naa may team didto sa Bulacao and naa sad team didto sa SRP. Karon the police force can concentrate on one entrance and that will be the SRP.”
(Policemen will no longer be divided to man checkpoints that are located at the city’s borders. At present, police are distributed to secure the Bulacao access and at the CSCR access that is located at the SRP (South Road Properties). With the “One Entrance Only” police implementation, police will now be able to concentrate on manning the SRP checkpoint.)
Gullas said that he also plans to coordinate with officials of the neighboring Barangay Inayawan in Cebu City to also discuss access concerns.
“I believe that those calling for a total closure of our borders are on point. I agree that we need to protect our citizens from the Covid-19 threat currently brewing in our neighbor’s backyard,” Gullas said.
“However, we cannot implement a total closure of our borders especially that there are guidelines issued by the IATF and by Gov. Gwen’s Executive Order that will allow our frontliners and workers of essential service providers to cross borders. But what we can do is to strictly implement border control measures and make sure that those who can pass by our borders are frontliners and workers of essential service providers and the other individuals under the exemptions of Gov Gwens EO,” he added.