Labella: No more lockdown in Cebu City

Vehicles pass by Katipunan Street on Thursday, June 4, 2020, a day after Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella lifted the lockdown in Sitio Callejon in Barangay Labangon. | Gerard Vincent Francisco #CDNDigital

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella echoed the calls of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) that lockdowns are not the solution to the persisting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) problem in Cebu.

The Interagency Task Force (IATF) is mulling to raise the quarantine level of the city due to the rising cases, which have reached over 3,000 active cases, and the emergence of two mutations of interest from samples studied in the area.

However, DOH-7’s chief pathologist, Doctor Mary Jean Loreche, already said that another lockdown would essentially be counterproductive as this would incur economic repercussions that would only make the public suffer.

“We will maintain as MGCQ, we will not allow a lockdown. We have experienced unsa kalisod ang lockdown. We will not allow a lockdown in the entire Cebu City kay mosamot kalisod ang kinabuhi,” said Labella.

A city-wide lockdown would be a no-no for Labella, but he has not discouraged the barangays in imposing granular lockdowns such as what Guadalupe and Lahug have done.

The two barangays imposed a Sunday-lockdown for their residents as they continue to top the COVID-19 cases in the city.

As for the effectiveness of these granular lockdowns, the most recent reports of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) still show that Guadalupe remains on top of the list while Lahug is now at the fourth spot.

Labella said granular lockdowns of these sorts will not be prohibited as it is temporary and focused only in a certain area, albeit both barangays being the largest barangays in the city.

“We will not allow and we will never resort to a lockdown sa tibuok dakbayan sa Sugbo,” said the mayor. /rcg