Ukay-ukay event slammed; public reminded: Still no mass gathering in Lapu-Lapu

Residents flock to a free “Ukay-ukay” activity at Barangay Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City despite the local government prohibiting mass gathering in the city. | screenshot of FB live or radio station organizing the activity

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO) in Lapu-lapu City has reminded the public that events or activities, which would result in a mass gathering, are still prohibited.

This was the reaction of DRRMO head Nagiel Bañacia after a local FM radio station, Brigada News FM, conducted a free “Ukay-ukay” activity this morning at Barangay Marigondon in Lapu-Lapu City.

“Atong city GCQ (general community quarantine) in heightened restriction pa ta ba. So, atong gikasubo nga dunay mga activities nga ingon ani nga I’m sure, wala ma’y pagtugot sa among opisina, I don’t know if niagi pa ni sa barangay,” Bañacia said.

(Our city is under GCQ (general community quarantine) and also in heightened restriction. So we are saddened that there are still activities such as this that I’m sure our office would not approve. I don’t even know if this passed through the barangay.)

Bañacia said that this kind of activity should have been avoided, especially with the presence of the Delta variant, which was described as a more transmissible type of the coronavirus.

“Kini gyud unta, angay gyud ni nga dili buhaton. Likayan gyud ni nato hilabi na karon nga duna ta’y Delta variant. Kini man gud mga ingon ani maoy hinungdan nga mosaka na sad atong kaso,” he added.

(This should not be done. This should be avoided especially now that we have the Delta variant. Things like this are the causes of the increase in cases.)

This morning, Brigada News FM has live-streamed the activity on their Facebook fan page, but later on, was deleted.

It also garnered negative reactions from its viewers.

Raul del Prado, the station manager of Brigada News FM, refused to issue a statement of the incident when CDN Digital tried to reach him.

Due to this, as a precautionary measure, Bañacia urged those who attended the activity to have themselves checked if they would manifest symptoms of the virus such as fever, cough, colds, and even body pain.

“Panalipdan nato ang mga nitambong niadto sa pamaagi nga dali nato silang matabangan. Kay kung motawag dayon sila, duna man tay rapid deployment team, ma-check up, duna man tay mga doctor, maatiman sila ug dili magrabihan,” he added.

(We will protect those who attended through our immediate help. Because if they will call us immediately, we have a rapid deployment team to give them a checkup. We also have doctors who can tend to them if they are in serious condition.)

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