BY MATÉ ESPINA
TIGHT border controls and the use of quarantine passes in Bacolod started on Monday. Despite a longer preparation when the implementation was postponed for four days, it was a chaotic Monday with traffic stalling for hours and kilometric lines of vehicles at the four major borders.
Bacolod has been placed on General Community Quarantine (GCQ) because of the rising COVID-19 cases. There are even talks that this may again be elevated to a Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) status if the trend continues. (The city’s MECQ status was formally announced early evening on Monday. – Ed.)
But even without the declaration of MECQ, the emergency powers granted by the city council to Bacolod Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia, allowed him to implement stricter measures such as the issuance of number-coded Home Quarantine Pass (HQP), border checks to discourage out-of-towners who do not have any business in the capital city, and ban gatherings that exceed 10 people.
This is not the first time this is implemented. We had this in place under ECQ then, thus you would think it’ll be easier the second time around. Apparently not. Commuters entering the city complained of unnecessary delays because despite having their documents checked at the borders, there are subsequent control points for document checks again.
There are four major entry points to Bacolod and these are in the borders of Talisay City in the north, Bago City in the south, Murcia town in the west and the circumferential airport road.
Lt. Col. Ariel Pico, spokesperson of the Bacolod City Police Office said that they will propose to set-up “priority lanes” for medical frontliners and government officials. Geez. There had been a trial run then and those issues should have been corrected already.
An incident before involved a shouting match between a provincial legislator and border patrols when the former was not allowed to freely pass and was told to get back in line by the police. What was amusing about it was when the legislator who was also a former town mayor was told that his status as an elected provincial official does not hold water in Bacolod.
There have been many instances of disconnect between the province and the city in terms of policies. Of course now, and probably because of that shouting incident, Bacolod has issued that unhampered travel plus respect I guess, must be accorded elected officials even from other LGUs.
The other problem now is the reported printing of fake HQPs, prompting Mayor Bing to issue a warning to those using falsified passes as well as to printing presses. Police said there are reports that these fake HQPs are being sold at P100 to as much as P300 a piece.
I don’t know the logic behind printing fake ones when each household is accorded one pass that can be used by as many as three other people, provided they use it one at a time. Those who are employed can simply show their company IDs.
I guess most of these fake ones will be of use to ambulant vendors especially since the HQPs are on an odd-even scheme. Those ending in odd numbers can only be used on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while HQP ending in even numbers can be used on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays while two Sundays from hereon will remain a total lockdown.
Bacolod continues to keep its first place rank in the region for having the most number of COVID cases after another 380 new positives were reported during the weekend. This include partial results of the mass testing conducted over a week ago, bringing its total cases to 1,846 and 27 deaths.
Negros Occidental ranks second with 1,452 cases including the 89 fresh cases while Iloilo City ranks third with 1,336 cases.
Meanwhile, the office of Negros Occidental Gov. Bong Lacson was temporarily closed for disinfection after four members of his staff, including a bodyguard, tested positive of COVID-19. The governor’s result came out negative but he remains in isolation.
Provincial Board Member Samson Mirhan also tested positive while Bacolod Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chair of the city’s IATF, went on isolation as well, after his 9-year old granddaughter tested positive.
The family has no knowledge how the child could have been infected since she has not been exposed outside since the pandemic. The child’s father and El Cid’s son, Andre, is a barangay captain but him and his wife tested negative. In a statement, El Cid reminded the public not to be complacent because no matter how careful one can be, there is always that chance of infection.
There have been several barangay captains here who contracted the virus and though some have recovered, there are others who are hospitalized and still not out of danger like Singcang Barangay Captain Rosinie Distrito, brother of former Councilor Ceasar Distrito, who remains in intensive care.
Yanson matriarch, Olivia, who is presently confined at St. Luke’s Hospital in Metro Manila is reportedly recovering and got special mention from Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque during a press briefing saying that the president, Senator Bong Go and himself are sending their warm wishes and praying for her full recovery./PN
