BAGUIO City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said no suspension of classes in the Summer Capital in the midst of Covid-19 scare.
“Looking at the present situation (based on the data presented by the Department of Health-Cordillera Administrative Region [DOH-CAR]), there is no urgent need to suspend classes in the city as of now. One of the game changers would be information that would directly link one of the (confirmed cases) to the city,” Magalong said.
Georaloy Palao-ay, information officer of the Department of Education (DepEd)-Cordillera, detailed Memorandum No. 034 s. 2020 which provides the fifth set of policy directives on Covid-19 and it includes guidelines on suspension of classes.
Palao-ay said guidelines dictate if one school has one positive case, the school head can declare suspension of classes. If two or more schools have positive cases, the School Division Superintendents can declare suspension of classes in the affected schools and adjacent areas or depending on the local situation, in the entire municipality.
For community transmissions, Palao-ay added if there is a community-level transmission in a city or municipality, the school division supervisors can declare the suspension of classes in the affected city or depending on the situation, in the entire province. If there is a community-level transmission in two or more provinces, regional directors can declare suspension of classes in the affected provinces or depending on the situation, in the entire region.
After an Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) meeting Monday afternoon, Magalong announced the cancellation of the annual Panagbenga Festival as well as the suspension of operations of the night market at Harrison Road and the Sunday closure of Session Road.
DepEd earlier suspended all scheduled national and regional events involving students from different localities, such as regional meets, until further notice.
DepEd activities will await definitive advisory from the IATF to ensure informed, coordinated and proportionate response. No directives from the Commission on Higher Education has been made as of Tuesday.