BACOLOD City – The city government here declared extended curfew hours as a preemptive health measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Citing spike of local COVID-19 cases, Mayor Evelio Leonardia set the new curfew hours from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. to limit the movement of the public.
He issued Executive Order No. 52 series of 2020 for this, which took effect yesterday Aug.9 until Aug. 22.
The city has an existing ordinance authored by Councilor Archie Baribar, enforcing curfew from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. every day as a non-social period for everyone in all public places.
But these curfew hours were further tightened under Leonardia’s latest directive.
According to Leonardia, violators who are residents of the city would be accosted and sent home accompanied by village officials and police while those who are non-residents would have their names listed for record purposes.
The mayor also appealed for understanding of the business sector in this city.
To recall, the business community here earlier requested Leonardia to reconsider the 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew hours in order to further stir the economy.
But they subsequently agreed to tighten curfew hours due to the continued increase of COVID-19 infections.
Frank CarbonFrank Carbon, chief executive officer of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “We are now shifting to plan B to prevent our businesses from going under.”
As of Aug. 8, Bacolod City has 183 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 145 of which are active, 31 already recovered and seven died./PN
