BACOLOD City – The City of Sagay in Negros Occidental has prohibited students from going to internet cafes and similar establishments in line with the suspension of classes in all levels in the city amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat.
“No students shall be allowed in any Internet café or computer shops during the relevant period of class suspension,” Mayor Alfredo Marañon III said in his Executive Order (EO) 12, series of 2020 released March 18.
The new order includes the supplemental guidelines on the suspension of classes in all levels in both private and public schools in the city, as stated in EO 11 issued by the mayor on March 16.
He said reports that have reached his office “seem to indicate that students are taking undue advantage of the suspension of classes as an opportunity to flock to Internet cafés, computer shops and the like, thus, defeating the noble purpose of the order.”
Marañon directed the Business Permit and Licensing Office and the Economic Enterprise and Management Office, along with the police and other enforcement units, to inform all Internet shops and computer establishments to strictly enforce the order.
Meanwhile, he urged all Sagaynons who have traveled outside of this province to subject themselves to home quarantine and follow safety procedures to help ensure that the city is free of COVID-19.
“The local government unit is doing its best to monitor the people coming in and going out of the city, ” Marañon said.
As of 5 p.m. on March 18, Sagay City recorded a total of 303 persons under monitoring (PUMs) and two patients under investigation (PUIs).
According to the city’s public health advisory, most of the identified PUMs and PUIs arrived in Negros Occidental after the community quarantine was enforced in Metro Manila last week.(With a report from PNA/PN)