Mandaue bans house-to-house caroling, Christmas gatherings

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines — There will be no house-to-house caroling and Christmas gatherings in Mandaue City this Christmas season.

The Mandaue City government has banned these activities including caroling, which has been part of the Filipino tradition every Christmas season, because of the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

“Diri sa Mandaue, ato nang na nasabutan with the EOC and local IATF nga we will not allow caroling labi na nang maghouse-to-house og panaygon, karun’g panahona. These are not normal times. Pandemic. Lisod man gyud, mao na ‘niyay hinungdan nga magtakod,” said Lawyer John Eddu Ibañez, executive secretary of Mayor Jonas Cortes.

(Here in Mandaue, we agreed with the EOC [Emergency Operations Center] and local IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force] that we will not allow caroling especially those who would go house-to-house caroling at this time. These are not normal times. Pandemic. It will be difficult to monitor and that might be the cause of the spread of the virus.)

Aside from no-caroling policy, the city won’t also allow Christmas gatherings. However, families can celebrate in their homes or within the compound.

“Ato gyud nang gibawal na ang gathering. Naa man god na diri ang request nga mag meeting sila sa ila’ng federation, mag Christmas party, ato gyo’ng gi deny ang request kay sa pagkakarun dili gyud ta mo allow sa bisag unsa nga gathering,” Ibañez said.

(We also ban gatherings. I have a request here of people who would hold a meeting of their federation, they would hold a Christmas party, we denied their request because for now we cannot allow any kind of gathering.)

“Ato’ng gihangyo aton’g kaigsuunan’g Mandauehanon nga og makakita sila og gathering, nakalapas sa health protocol nga mo report sila aron ato’ng mabadlong,” he said. 

(We appeal to our fellow Mandauehanons that if they would see any gathering that has violated the health protocol, that they would report these violators so that we can take action against these people.)/dbs