Cebu City mulls opening of Bulacao border

A traffic officer stands on guard in a border checkpoint in Barangay Bulacao in Talisay City in this June 2020 photo.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City government is planning to reopen the Bulacao border for entry into the city now that it has been placed under the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ).

Lawyer Rey Gealon, the spokesperson of the city government, said that they are studying the possibility of slowly reopening the Bulacao border, which links Cebu City and Talisay City, to address the expected traffic at the South Road Properties (SRP) now that more workers will be entering the city.

The Bulacao border has remained closed for incoming workers, despite Talisay City already allowing passage into their jurisdiction through the said border.

Read: Talisay City opens border for Cebu City, loosens up other protocols under MGCQ

This means that while workers need to go pass through the SRP to enter Cebu City, they can already leave Cebu City through the Bulacao border anytime.

This lack of reciprocity between the cities has caused some complaints among workers living in the southern parts of Cebu.

A branch manager of an establishment in Cebu City who resides in Minglanilla told CDN Digital that the SRP is a long detour for him to enter the city, especially that his workplace is just in Barangay Pardo.

Closing off the Bulacao border for entry means that he has to travel six to seven kilometers more  in order to reach his workplace.

“Ablihan nalang unta, nagkatraffic na gud ang SRP tungod ana. Sabton lang pud ming mga trabahante ba. (I hope they open the border because traffic has accumulated at the SRP because of that. I hope they emphathize with the workers),” said the branch manager, who requested anonymity.

Gealon said the city cannot immediately open the borders yet as they want to limit the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The city cannot risk another rise in cases after a long period of hard quarantine in the last four months.

Read: Being too complacent under MGCQ could lead to spike in COVID-19 cases, Cebu City EOC warns

“Ato nang gistudyohan. Human sa usa ka semana atong ievaluate ang hinay nga pag abli nianang border sa Bulacao. (We are studying the possibility. After one week, we will evaluate the slow opening of the border in Bulacao),” said Gealon.

The city government assured that in the coming weeks, these borders will soon be opened probably within a limited time period per day or until the city has identified ways to control the movement there. /bmjo