BACOLOD City – Due to the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), residents here are strongly discouraged from greeting people involving physical contact.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia’s latest directive regarding social distancing is based on Executive Order (EO) No. 23, Series of 2020 released to reporters on Wednesday.
“I do hereby order that handshaking, pagmamano (kissing of the elder’s hand), hugging, beso-beso, or kissing on the cheeks, and other forms of greeting involving physical contact shall be strongly discouraged to further promote social distancing,” he said.
The mayor instead urged Bacolodnons “to live up to that cultural distinction of being citizens of the ‘City of Smiles’ and to behave accordingly on that basis without need of physical contact to greet one another.”
“Every Bacolodnon should do his part in preventing the spread of the virus even in the most basic means, by practicing social distancing,” he added.
Leonardia said the order takes effect immediately and remains in effect until the city has been declared by the Department of Health as free of the threat of COVID-19 contagion. (With PNA/PN)
