THE City Council approved a resolution to declare the City of Bacolod in the state of calamity and urge the office of the City Mayor to release the midyear bonus of the employees if legally permissible under the obtaining circumstances.

The resolution, authored by Councilor Renecito Novero, was approved during the regular session of the City Council Wednesday, March 18.

Novero said President Rodrigo Duterte has already declared state of calamity in the entire Philippines which brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and the economic dislocations that are consequent thereof which affect everybody, rich and poor alike.

“In crisis moments like this, our government employees and workers need available cash in order to reinforce their financial necessities which include food, medicine, sanitizers, disinfectants and the like which are triggered and heightened by the government policies of enhanced community quarantine and probable lockdown in order to arrest the infectious progress of the virus,” he said.

On March 11, World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 as a pandemic, and on March 12, President Rodrigo Duterte upgraded the Code Alert System for Covid-19 to Code Red Sublevel 2 and placed Metro Manila under “community quarantine.”

On March 15, Mayor Evelio Leonardia also ordered Executive Order (EO) No. 21, declaring general community quarantine in the city.

Leonardia said that during this general community quarantine, all land, sea and air travel to and from the City of Bacolod shall be restricted.

“Movement of goods or cargoes to and from the city shall not be hampered or restricted. However, persons delivering such goods or cargoes shall be subject to the necessary health checking procedure by the duly designated authorities,” he said.