Labella says no to cockfighting for Cebu City MGCQ, border checkpoints will stay

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella | PIO Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) announced today, October 16, 2020, the further easing of quarantine restrictions under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

In the new IATF guidelines, those aged 15 years old to 65 years old may already go out, people can freely travel between MGCQ and general community quarantine (GCQ) areas, and Filipinos can now travel for non-essential purposes abroad.

Read: Outbound non-essential travel allowed starting Oct. 21

Furthermore, the holding of a beach volleyball tournament and off-track horse race betting stations are allowed under GCQ or lower, while the operation of licensed cockpits and the conduct of cockfighting activities are allowed in areas under MGCQ or lower.

Read: IATF allows cockfighting activities in MGCQ areas

Mayor Edgardo Labella said he would comply with the IATF’s guideline to allow the 15 to 65 years old to go out as this had been already recommended by the national agency.

Read: Gov’t relaxes quarantine, persons aged 15 to 65 now allowed out

However, he said he would not allow cockfighting or horseracing within the jurisdiction of the city during the MGCQ as this would only be detrimental to the efforts of the city to reduce the number of active cases and prevent further transmission.

There are no horseracing tracks in the city anymore, but cockfighting is still a common practice in barangays especially in the mountain areas.

During the enhanced community quarantine from June to August 2020, many residents were apprehended due to illegal cockfighting and crowding.

For Labella, these kinds of activities are counterproductive to the city’s goal of becoming COVID-19 free.

He said that the city would also maintain the border checkpoints to control the movements of non-residents in and out the city, although it was not clear if identification cards (IDs) would still be needed to enter the borders.

“We will still continue the border checkpoints even if there are no requirements. With respect to easing, of the age restrictions, we will just follow the IATF guidelines,” said the mayor.

The city’s active cases are currently at 221 out of the total 10,155 confirmed cases.

Labella said there should still be certain regulations to be maintained to allow the city to heal while the business sector would slowly reopen.

The mayor will release a new executive order soon to incorporate the changes in the MGCQ guidelines.

/dbs