Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, the deputy chief implementor of the EOC in Cebu City. | file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Starting this Monday, November 22, children or minors 15 years old and below will be prohibited from entering grocery stores and supermarkets in Cebu City.
The city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on Thursday, November 18, announced this policy in anticipation of the Christmas rush next month.
Councilor Joel Garganera, EOC head, said the city government would be expected to issue a memorandum to formalize what they had agreed upon during a meeting with supermarkets and grocery stores within this week.
“What we agreed is that children below 15 years old are not allowed inside the grocery. Mangomprahay ra gyud pwede sud sa atong groceries (We should only buy groceries there),” Garganera told reporters.
However, the councilor clarified that minors were still allowed in other establishments such as malls.
“As is gihapon ta ana (We are as is in that). We still need to conduct further meetings and discussions on updating our existing protocols,” Garganera explained.
The EOC chief said during Christmas season, people usually crowd to supermarkets and grocery stores to buy food for the holidays, and that these establishments would remain one of the primary sources of COVID-19 transmission in the city.
“Household transmission is still (the most prevalent source) of infection, but grocery, usa sab sa mga daghan nga (one of the many) reported transmission. Not necessarily dinha ra nakuha (that they got it there), but daghan (many) have visited the grocery stores,” said Garganera.
Cebu City is still under Alert Level 2, one of the most lenient quarantine classifications, until November 30.
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