Motor delivery carriers will no longer be allowed to enter Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City on Sundays. | CDN File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — No more Lalamove, Grabfood, Foodpanda, or Angkas on the streets of Barangay Guadalupe every Sunday while Cebu City remains under the enhanced community quarantine.
Guadalupe Barangay Captain Michael Gacasan told CDN Digital that this was their way to further prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in their barangay after they were named as the second hotspot area in the city next to Barangay Sambag I by the Cebu City Health.
“Wala man gud ta kahibaw kung asa na sila gikan. Lain-lain ilang giserbisyoan. Gipasulod lang nato sila kay essential man sila. Pero hangyo lang namo basta Dominggo, wala lang gyoy makasulod usa sa Guadalupe ana nila,” said Gacasan in a phone interview.
(We don’t know where they come from. They serve different people. We allow them inside our barangay because they are essentials, but we appeal to them that on Sundays, none of them should enter Guadalupe.)
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The village chief said he was concerned that the rising cases from the barangay was not from densely populated sitios or depressed areas, instead these had come from subdivisions or compounds.
As of June 28, 2020, Guadalupe has 106 active cases, and at least 30 new cases were recorded in the days that followed.
This prompted the barangay to train its residents for a lockdown mode.
Not only delivery carriers are refused entry on Sundays, but all establishments in the barangay including small-time businesses in the sitios are also closed.
Markets, supermarkets, malls, convenience stores, and even sari-sari stores will have to close down. Only pharmacies will be open.
“Anadon na nato atong kaugalingon og lockdown kay wa ta kahibaw unsay mahitabo sunod nga nagkasaka ang kaso. (Let us get used to a lockdown because we don’t know what will happen while the cases rise),” said Gacasan.
Meanwhile, Gacasan urged the city to put additional measures for motor delivery carriers to ensure they would not become COVID-19 carriers as well.
Although the four companies had set up protective measures for their riders, Gacasan said the city had to regulate them more.
He urged the city to require the riders of these delivery companies to submit themselves to rapid testing or even swab testing before being allowed to operate.
“Dapat naa unta na silay medical certificate. (They should have a medical certificate),” he said.
The four companies already issued separate statements in the past saying they had put up measures to ensure the safety of their drivers including wearing masks, contact-less delivery, cashless transactions, and proper hygiene./dbs