Chan to Oponganons: ‘I need your help’ in fight vs COVID-19

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan has reiterated his appeal for cooperation to address the continuous spread of cases of the coronavirus disease in their city.

“How can we heal as one if we will not work as one? Palihug, tabangi ko (Please, help me),” he said in a message which he posted on his social media account early this Wednesday morning, July 1, 2020, or a few hours after Malacañang announced that his city is among the localities in the country that will remain under general community quarantine (GCQ).

Chan said he cannot also blame President Duterte for referring to Cebuanos including Oponganons as “hardheaded.”

“Dili nako ma-blame nga tawgon kitag gahi og ulo sa atong presidente kay aduna gihapon kitay madawat nga reports nga nagbuhat ug mga kalapasan nga sukwahi sa mga balaod nga atong gipatuman ubos sa GCQ. Kanus-a pa man ta mopatoo? Kanus-a pa man ta motuman sa lagda sa gobyerno? Kanus-a pa man nato hunahunaon nga ang maong mga balaod para gihapon sa atong kaayuhan? Unya na ba kita nga mosanong kung uwahi na ang tanan?”

(I cannot blame the president for calling us hardheaded because I have been getting reports that many continue to violate GCQ protocols.  When will we learn? When will we comply with government regulations?  When will we start to realize that regulations that are now being implemented are also for our own good?  Would we rather comply with all these when it’s already too late for us?)

Chan said that the government’s fight against the coronavirus disease is “no joke.”

The infection has already claimed the lives of 27 residents in Lapu-Lapu City alone, he said.

Read: Lapu-Lapu City logs 37 more COVID cases on the last day of June

As of June 30, Lapu-Lapu City logged a total of 604 COVID-19 cases with 129 recoveries.

Oponganons, Chan said, play a very important role in the city’s fight against the infection.

“Kung padayon nga mag ginahi ang inyung ulo, padayon pod ang pagsaka sa atong kaso. Kung hinayhinay na nga mosantop sa inyung hunahuna nga motuo sa atong mga balaod, magmalaumon usab kita nga makatabang kana nga moubos ang atong kaso. Naa sa inyuhang kamot ang tanan. Dili kini gyera sa gobyerno lang pero apil pod kamo niini kay ang virus naa sa atong mga panimalay,” he said.

(If you continue to defy government regulations, expect the continued rise in COVID-19 cases.  When you start to realize the need to already follow the law, we also hope that this will lead to a reduction in our cases.  It is now in your hands.  This is not a war that should be left for the government to fight but this includes you as well because the virus is already within our homes.)