Mambaling village chief says he can’t impose total lockdown
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Despite the rising number of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Barangay Mambaling here, the village is still not imposing a total lockdown.
In a phone interview with CDN Digital, Mambaling Barangay Captain Gines Abellana said that he has no authority to impose a total lockdown in his barangay.
“Only the mayor has the authority to impose a lockdown on the barangay, but we have placed Sitio Tinabangay under total lockdown,” said Abellana.
Other barangays have already declared total lockdowns in their own discretion such as Barangays Guadalupe and Labangon.
Aside from the lack of declaration from the mayor, Abellana said it will be difficult to lock down the entire barangay as they does not have enough funds to feed its 40,000 population.
Isolating the 31 COVID-19 patients is the best course as the barangay would only need to worry about the need of the patients and of locked-down Sitio Tinabangay.
Abellana said if the mayor decides to lock down the whole of Mambaling, the city’s help will be needed to sustain the needs of the residents.
As of now, the city has sent rice aid for Sitio Tinabangay’s families.
The city has delivered at least a thousand sacks of rice to Barangays Mambaling, Labangon, and Guadalupe on Friday, May 1, 2020.
These are the barangays that have locked down some sitios (sub-villages) due to the spread of the coronavirus. /bmjo
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