Santander town mayor: No ‘hard lockdown’ here

photo courtesy of Muncipality of Santander Facebook page

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The mayor of Santander town in the southern tip of Cebu clarified that they are not implementing a hard lockdown.

In her official statement through a Facebook post on Thursday, July 22, 2021, Mayor Marites Buscato made the clarification following rumors that Santander town would also be implementing hard lockdown just like the neighboring town of Samboan.

Samboan implemented a six-day lockdown covering its seven barangays starting  Friday, July 23, in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.

READ: Samboan under ‘hard lockdown’ for 6 days

Buscato said that she did not issue an executive order for the implementation of a lockdown in Santander.

“Sa mga mahal nakong Tanonganon, sayod ako nga adunay hugun-hugon nga apil ang Santander sa “hard lockdown”. Aka giklaro nga DILI KINI TINOOD ug wala ako mipakanaog ug mando or executive order mahitungod ani,” she said.

However, the town mayor urges its residents to remain vigilant and religiously observe the minimum health standards, which include social distancing and wearing of face masks and face shields.

Earlier, Buscato ordered the temporary closure of their Municipal Main Building for disinfection, which started Wednesday, July 21 until Friday, July 23.

The three-day closure was made due to some employees who showed signs and symptoms of COVID-19 that would be subjected to swab testing.

As of July 19, Santander has nine active cases of COVID-19. As of July 22, Cebu Province has 111 new cases, bringing the total number of active cases to 1,407.

/bmjo