Quarantine passes to limit movement in barangays

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City government will be implementing the quarantine pass system once the enhanced community quarantine begins on March 28, 2020.

Mayor Edgardo Labella said that in order to limit the movement of people in the streets and in essential public places such as markets, the city will only allow one person per household to go out and buy the family’s needs.

Labella said the quarantine passes distribution will most likely be delegated to the barangays. The barangays must ensure that each household will be given a quarantine pass.

However, the city will be creating a guideline on who is allowed to be given the quarantine passes and how the barangays will distribute such.

Some barangays have already begun distributing quarantine passes on Thursday, March 26, 2020, to residents including Barangay Punta Princessa, Barangay Kamputhaw, Barangay Poblacion Pardo, and Barangay Zapatera.

In Barangay Kamputhaw, village chief Jessica Cadungog posted on her Facebook page that the passes will be delivered to the houses.

After people flocked the Punta Princessa barangay hall, the barangay also decided to distribute the passes to the houses. 

In Barangay Poblacion Pardo, the passes are distributed at the barangay hall.

However, some barangays have not released passes yet such as Barangays Tisa and Basak-San Nicolas among others.

Labella said guidelines have to be set so the public will not have a hard time getting the quarantine passes and any of the executive orders in the city such as social distancing will not be violated.

“The people will get used to this. You know, the enhanced community quarantine is just a stricter community quarantine. About two-thirds of the protocol, we are already practicing. We are just adding one third stricter measures,” said Labella.

The mayor also said that although the layman’s term for this enhanced community quarantine is “lockdown,” he clarifies that this was not a total lockdown.

A total lockdown would mean prohibiting everyone from leaving the home with minimal to no exceptions. However, many exceptions have been placed despite the city closing its borders especially for health workers and even call centers.

The mayor also urged everyone to simply follow the protocol and avoid violating any of the curfews.

“Para ra ni natong tanan. (This is for the safety of everyone),” he said. /rcg