NO MORE WEEKEND BLOCK-OFFS IN CITY

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

Except for the lifting of the weekend block-offs, there are no significant changes as Iloilo City remains under enhanced community quarantine until May 15, 2020 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Iloilo City Mayor Treñas assured that community kitchens, food assistance to the barangays and food for the frontliners will continue.

Despite the economic losses, Treñas said food assistance and other programs of the city government will continue amid the extended ECQ.

“Ang aton nga food assistance, community kitchen, and food for frontliners masige-sige man na gihapon while under kita sa ECQ,” he said in a radio interview on Friday.

The city government has established 240 community kitchens in the city barangays since the start of the ECQ in March.

As of April 30, the city government distributed a total of 48,404 sacks of rice and 2,185 cases of canned goods to city residents under its Uswag Relief Operations.

The city’s Uswag Patrol Kitchen has been continously feeding more than 1,000 frontliners in the city.

Following the recommendation of the National Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (NIATFMEID), Treñas issued Executive Order (EO) No. 68 extending the ECQ from May 1 until May 15.

In the last two weekends of April, the city implemented weekend block-offs to limit the movement of people.

Operations of groceries and supermarkets were limited to a maximum of six hours during the block-off.

Meanwhile, quarantine passes, liquor ban, and the implementation of curfew fron 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. will remain until May 15 under the ECQ.

As part of the safety measures, the public must still follow the mandatory use of face masks and the practice of social distancing.

Moreover, persons who are more than 59 years old and more than 21 years old; persons with disabilities; and persons with risk factors and co-morbidities will be prohibited from leaving their houses except when buying food, medicine, and medical emergencies.