Labella: We need to keep senior citizens safe at home

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella says that the stay-at-home-order for senior citizens has scientific basis and that Vice Mayor Michael Rama should instead raise his concern to the IATF, who has the authority to decide on the restrictions of the senior citizens. | screengrab (file photo)

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella will wait for the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to lift the movement restrictions of senior citizens.

This was his response to the appeal of Vice Mayor Michael Rama to already allow the senior citizens to go out under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ). 

Labella said that the basic regulations set by IATF for MGCQ restricted senior citizens to go out as well as those people with comorbidities because they were the most vulnerable to the virus. 

He said that he had no authority to bypass this regulations although the city government had tried to stretch out the guidelines to allow senior citizens to go out when absolutely necessary. 

Under his Executive Order No. 94, senior citizens can go out to buy food and medicine only if there is an absolute need for it and if there is no one else to do the task for them. 

Still, the general stay-at-home order will remain in effect for Cebu City as this is the minimum requirement for MGCQ areas. 

Read more: Rama: ‘Let us free our senior citizens’

“I understand where the vice mayor is coming from. I am also a senior citizen. However, there is a scientific basis for the regulation,” said Labella. 

In the recent data released by the Emergency Operations Center, 57 percent of the total 673 COVID-related deaths in the city were from the 60 years and above age group. 

Read: EOC defends stay-at-home order for senior citizens: We’re keeping them safe

This is enough of a basis for the mayor to maintain the movement regulations for the protection of the senior citizens. 

Labella urged Rama to raise his concerns directly to the IATF and President Rodrigo Duterte and make representations for the senior citizens. 

“I cannot act on that officially. I am also not inclined to write to IATF for the reconsideration because of this scientific basis,” he added. 

The mayor said that the city government would continue to implement the stay-at-home order coupled with increased anti-COVID measures around the city so that when the senior citizens could already go out, the city would already be safe for them. /dbs