BACOLOD City – Business groups fear that more businesses will be forced to permanently close should the proposal to bring back this city to enhance community quarantine (ECQ) push through.
“We are not in favor of this move,” stressed Frank Carbon, chief executive officer Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI).
Carbon cited that the lockdown imposed since March to May forced almost 50 percent of business establishments in the city to close. He feared that more establishments would be shuttered should another lockdown happen.
Carbon said they are amenable of sealing off a particular area or barangay with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive cases but not the entire city.
Earlier, concerned physicians urged President Rodrigo Duterte and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to place the city once more under ECQ for two weeks. They cited the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.
“We are now the highest in Western Visayas, and there are hundreds of pending results coming in. Some hospitals have declared full COVID-19 capacity. Numerous healthcare workers and frontliners have been admitted or home-quarantined,” according to Dr. Ma. Ivy Malata, president of the Philippine Medical Association – Canlaon Medical Society.
Malata was referring to cases of local transmission. As of July 28, Bacolod City recorded 152 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of the 152, 90 were active cases, 58 were recoveries and four were deaths.
Negros Occidental Medical Society president Dr. Robert Puerta made a similar call during a virtual consultation with city government officials.
To recall, business groups earlier this month requested the Sangguniang Panlungsod to amend the curfew ordinance from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. to 12 midnight until 4 a.m.
Starting next month, the city government will implement the “Non-Social Period Ordinance.” All city residents would be prohibited in all public places from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. every day./PN
