No private vehicles allowed in Carbon starting Mar. 22

This is the traffic plan in and around Carbon Public Market that the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) proposed to the city government as part of their preparations for the Holy Week. Officials from CCPO, Market Operations Division and PROBE team met on March 17 to discuss their preparations for this year’s Holy Week celebration. | via Morexette Marie Erram

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Beginning this March 22, authorities and police in Cebu City will temporarily prohibit private vehicles from entering Carbon Public Market, the city’s largest public wet market.

The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), Market Operations Division, (MOD), Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO), and the Prevention Order Restoration Beautification Enhancement (PROBE) team announced on Tuesday, March 17 their plans to regulate marketgoers in Carbon as Holy Week nears.

These included implementing a traffic rerouting scheme and closing some roads leading to the market to regulate the influx of marketgoers.

Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, CCPO director, said these measures were made to ensure crowd gathering will not happen again as shoppers are expected to flock to the market to buy ingredients this Holy Week, particularly for binignit.

“This is what the market division, CCPO, CCTO, and PROBE team came up with and proposed to the EOC (Emergency Operations Center). Mayor Edgardo Labella has already approved of our plans,” said Ligan in Cebuano.

These policies will take effect until April 3, 2021.

CCTO operations chief Erwin Navales said they will conduct clearing operations on all roads in and leading to Carbon starting Thursday, March 18.

“As early as March 18, we will do clearing operations to pave way for the road closure and no entry for private vehicles this March 22,” said Navales.

He added that only delivery trucks transporting goods in and out of Carbon Public Market will be allowed to access the roads.

Road closure, rerouting

Authorities agreed to close the streets of Kawit, El Filibusterismo, Calderon, Plaridel, and F. Gonzales while vehicles trying to access Carbon Public Market will be rerouted to Escaño Street near Magallanes Street, and exit through M.C. Briones Street towards the Senior Citizens’ Park.

The country will be celebrating Holy Week starting March 28 until April 3 but the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak continues to rage this year, with 2,676 active cases in Cebu City as of March 16.

During the height of the pandemic last 2020, photos and videos of buyers flocking to Carbon Public Market, with little to no regard for minimum health standards, to purchase ingredients for binignit, a Lenten staple, went viral. /rcg

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