Gwen allows border entry of province’s residents working in Cebu City

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Residents of Cebu province who work in essential establishments in Cebu City are allowed to go to work and return home despite the now enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) status of the city, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said on Wednesday, June 17, 2020.

Contrary to the previous actions of the Capitol, wherein it closed its borders to Cebu City due to the high number of coronavirus disease cases here, Garcia said she will allow entry and exit of the employees to and from the province as long as they can present their company identification card and certificate of employment.

These workers, however, will need to practice the traditional health regimens that the Capitol endorses such as steam inhalation or “tuob” and taking in megadoses of vitamins from citrus fruits and turmeric to boost their immune system.

While the threat brought by COVID-19 remains, Garcia said the employees should boost their immune system to protect themselves from the viral infection.

During the meeting with the mayors of the component towns and cities, Garcia asked the chief executives to issue an executive order asking the employees that work in Cebu City to undergo at least 10 minutes of steam inhalation before and after they go to work.

“COVID is there. The key is [to] protect yourself. You may be carrying this but if you have a strong immune system, makaya na nimo (you can overcome it). You have to help yourself and by so doing you are also helping the people around you

“Di man pod ni mahimo nga magsige na lang ta og sira di unya di na pod makatrabaho.  Mosamot og kalisod ang kahimtang sa atong mga kaigsuonan,” Garcia said.

(We can’t just keep on closing borders which will stop our employees from working. It will just worsen the situation of our fellow Cebuanos.)

Last March 30, Cebu province has instituted border controls against Cebu City amid the rising number of cases in the city.

These border controls limited the exemptions of persons that are allowed to cross borders and did not even include those who are working in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and other establishments that were allowed to operate and employers were urged to provide accommodation for their workers.

Last June 3, or two days after Cebu City transitioned to general community quarantine, the province eased the border restriction and allowed workers in all permitted establishments to go in and out of the province provided that they are able to present their IDs and their COE.

But last June 15, the national Interagency Task Force (IATF) has reverted Cebu City back to ECQ due to the still increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the city. /bmjo