BY MATÉ ESPINA
BACOLOD City’s Mayor Bing Leonardia went public over the weekend to clarify certain provisions under the Modified Enhanced Quarantine Community (MECQ) that the city is bound to implement as mandated by the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF).
With a ban on public transport, it seemed like the city was on a lockdown. But Mayor Bing clarified that it is not a lockdown but a mere “slow-down.”
The bone of contention is the ban on public transport which makes business-as-usual, even at 50 percent capacity, seem senseless. Some businesses opted to simply close shop until the MECQ is lifted as there is no point in opening up when the general public had no means to get out anyway.
Others went online and even big groceries put up apps for ordering supplies with delivery.
Last week, clearly unprepared for the immediate declaration of MECQ in Bacolod, a lot of people had to walk to work after the public transportation ban took effect without warning.
With the border closure in effect as well, traffic on major entry points were horrendous. People who work in Bacolod but reside outside the capital city got stalled at borders as each commuter had to present documentation to justify their entry.
Of course, first to cry foul is the business community but understandably, Mayor Bing’s hands are tied as, “LGUs are mere implementors of the measures imposed by the NIATF.”
Private vehicles and shuttle services for companies are allowed. However, some say it is not worthwhile to deploy fleets at their expense, and worse, employees still arrive hours later because of the traffic jam at border controls.
“Businessmen asked me to appeal for exemption from the ban on public transport during this MECQ. They say that it does not make sense to allow businesses and offices to remain open while suspending public transportation. They also say that while it is important to observe health protocols to contain the spread of COVID-19, it cannot be to the point of hurting businesses,” Mayor Bing said.
But I guess things will change this week after Councilors Cindy Roxas and Dindo Ramos dialogued with heads of transport groups here and Cong. Greg Gasataya also asked Sec. Art Tugade for intervention.
About 40 jeepneys will start plying routes for essential workers at point-to-point only. They will operate in two batches and hiring these jeeps will also provide livelihood for the drivers who will otherwise be cashless till Sept. 30.
Mayor Bing also explained why we were placed on MECQ and the glaring fact showed that in the first 12 days of September, we were averaging 103 cases per day or a total of 1,232 for that period alone. That’s almost half of our total cases which now stands at 2,580 cases and making us topnotcher in Western Visayas.
Records of positive cases in Bacolod: March 2020 – 6 cases; April 2020 – 16; May 2020 – 5; June 2020 – 37; July 2020 – 234 (or an average of 8 cases per day); August 2020 – 1,050 positive cases (average of 34 cases per day) which tripled by the first of September.
“The statistics can only mean that there are many asymptomatics roaming around the city, infecting other people, and without the virus carrier even knowing he has it,” Mayor Bing said, adding that allowing public transport at this point will ensure the spread faster.
A Virus Containment Team under Gen. Mel Feliciano who was deployed here and in Iloilo to oversee the pandemic, has been created. This team will “hunt down the carriers of the virus and isolate them as quickly as possible before it can spread to more people,” the mayor explained.
Unfortunately, hunting these people down may pose a great challenge to the team after local officials revealed late last week that there are positives who went missing. Many of them participated in the Weekend Timeout mass testing where over 500 out of the 4,000 plus who got themselves tested, resulted positive.
According to officials, some of these positives jotted down wrong information and the containment team cannot locate them anymore. Officials warned of possible legal liability of these positives if they will not come out to be quarantined in a government facility.
A public appeal was made asking those who participated in the mass testing to go to their barangays if they haven’t received their results as one way of flushing them out I guess.
Mayor Bing hopes that the MECQ protocols will reduce the cases back to “low double digits,” adding that “postponing biting the bullet will only worsen the situation and could even prolong the MECQ, or even place us under ECQ, which is the most restrictive category there is, if our daily case rate does not abate or flatten.”
“Let us observe what is required of us during this MECQ because that is the balancing act that will save many lives and our economy,” Mayor Bing appealed, saying “Each life is precious. Once lost, it is lost. Business is precious, too. But even if it is lost, it can still be rebuilt.”/PN
