VILLAGE officials of Calinan Proper in Davao City will no longer continue implementing a “total lockdown” on Thursday, March 26, after Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued a cease and desist order in distributing home quarantine passes.
Barangay Calinan Proper chairman Ursicio Ungab told SunStar Davao in a phone interview on Wednesday, March 25, that they are abiding by the mayor’s order after noticing inconsistencies in the issuance of the passes.
Ungab said they were supposed to issue the passes per household when the barangay lockdown takes place to discourage Calinan Proper residents from going out of their homes.
“Supposedly duna’y proposal nga giaprubahan sa (barangay) board nga mag lockdown mi diria sa poblacion. Pero naa man gu’y mando si mayor (Sara) nga dili sa mag lockdown basin daghan maapektuhan (The barangay was supposed to implement the lockdown in Calinan Proper but the mayor told us to suspend it as it might affect a lot of people),” the barangay official said.
He added that since the lockdown was announced, some residents were already panic buying, which further defeated the mandated one-meter social distancing.
Ungab initially ordered the lockdown after noticing that residents in the area are disregarding the Department of Health (DOH)’s call on social distancing and staying at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
He added that some “non-establishments” are still operating despite the issued Executive Order 15, which orders recreation, entertainment, and health and wellness establishments to cease operations.
Ungab said the village, as mentioned by the city mayor, are given leeway on how they would enforce the issued-city executive orders.
He said imposing the lockdown was their “last resort” to limit the people from coming in and out of the area.
The passes, he said, would also be required when buying in groceries and public markets.
Ungab said they are limiting the people entering the Calinan Public Market as it is the only public market in the third district.
“Dako ang Calinan. Composed mi og 40 puroks diin diraa sila gapamalengke. Wala pay labot nang sa ubang barangays. Ang Marilog, diria gapamalengke. (Calinan is a huge area. There are 40 puroks who buy at our market as well as other barangays such as Marilog),” the official said, underscoring that other neighboring barangays also purchase food and other items in their market.
Despite lifting the proposed lockdown, Ungab said they would continue to impose the orders of the city government to ensure that residents would follow the mandatory home quarantine and social distancing.
In case they would continue to defy the order, he said “Kung dili gihapon sila mutuman sa guidelines sa DOH, mapugos gyud ko og dayon sa lockdown aron maprotektahan akong mga sakop (If they would continue to defy the DOH guidelines, I would be forced to impose the lockdown to protect my constituents).” (RGL)