PUMs in Cebu province increase despite border closure
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia says people entering the province from Cebu City will have to present Cebu Provincial Government pass to those manning checkpoints at the borders. | Rosalie O. Abatayo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — After days of steady decline, the number of persons under monitoring (PUMs) in the towns and cities in Cebu province has climbed to 4,443 anew on Thursday, April 23, 2020.
The present number of PUMs is higher by 829 people compared to the count a week ago, April 16, where the number of PUMs has already gone down to as low as 3,614.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said that the local government units (LGUs) had recorded all persons arriving in their locality from Cebu City as PUMs due to the increase of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases here.
But the increase in the number of PUMs in the last seven days occurred despite the Capitol’s policy of banning the entry of nonessential personnel from Cebu City into the province.
“I suspect nga ang uban ani apil ni sa mga exempted kay general gyud kaayo to ang atong EO (executive order),” Garcia said.
(I suspect that some of these people included are those exempted from the ECQ because our EO was so general.)
Garcia said some employees of government agencies, even though they were not part of the skeletal force of their offices, still managed to enter the province when they presented their government IDs.
WATCH: Governor Gwendolyn Garcia gives updates on the COVID-19 cases and measures in Cebu province.
On Thursday, April 23, Garcia issued another executive order which would now require government and exempted companies’ employees to present a Capitol-issued pass before they would be allowed to enter the province.
The Cebu Provincial Government (CPG) pass is issued by the Capitol to persons who are included in the list of skeletal workforce personnel submitted by government agencies and exempted companies.
The CPG passes also indicate the specific areas that the bearer can travel to and from Cebu City.
For instance, if a person lives in Minglanilla and reports in a government office in Cebu City, his travel exemption is only valid for Cebu City to Minglanilla and vice versa.
This policy takes effect at midnight this Friday, April 24.
The requirement for a CPG pass to enter Cebu province, however, does not cover Department of Health (DOH) officials and employees, health workers and heads of government agencies.
On Thursday evening, Garcia inspected the border checkpoints set up in Talisay City, Mandaue City and Consolacion where she left templates of the CPG passes that the checkpoint officers could refer to when checking the documents or identifications of the travelers that would enter their jurisdiction.
Read more: Vans, ambulances being used to ‘smuggle’ persons out of Cebu City for a fee?
Meanwhile, Garcia also clarified that armored vehicles were no longer exempted from the inspection policy in the border checkpoints.
Earlier, Garcia said she received reports that some armored vehicles have been used to smuggle persons from Cebu City into Cebu province since they were not being being halted or inspected in the checkpoints.
Garcia said that the Bank Security Management Association, in an e-mail, expressed their willingness for the armored cars to be subjected to the inspection in the checkpoints./dbs
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