BARANGAY Mambaling, on lockdown since May 6, 2020, has over 500 confirmed Covid-19 cases, the bulk of which are in Sitio Alaska. A crammed community with porous borders, the sitio is a high-risk area. Government imagined dire consequences if it fails to restrict movement right away. Thus, the barangay promptly installed high barricades to hedge in an area of 4,000 families, or 20,000 individuals.
But two days since the lockdown, First Councilor Ann Marie Palomo said there was growing unrest, people were starving and there was no water.
“This is urgent. Duha na ka adlaw mga tawo walay kaon, mangabuang na ning mga tawo diri (It had been two days that people here have nothing to eat, they’re going crazy),” said Palomo.
The barricades, a crude pile of varied materials, rose high, almost reminiscent of a familiar Les Miserables scene, made it difficult for well-meaning outsiders to even hand in aid to the residents.
“Mga baricades na taas kaayo, maski pagtunol ug tubig lisod kaayo. Dili na ka makapalit, dili makagawas, and walay ayuda nisud diri (Barricades were too high, even passing forth water was hard. You could no longer buy anything, can’t go out, and there was no help coming),” Palomo said.
The councilor said the residents didn’t see it coming. “People are not prepared for the lockdown. Wala man na nila gi-announce. Naa ray kisaw-kisaw, pero wa gyud na ma properly announced (There was no announcement. There was a buzz, but there wasn’t any formal announcement),” Palomo said.
Barangay Captain Gines Abella, however, denied this.
“Di na tinuod, karon gani nihatud mi sa Alaska, ang kanang amo gipanghatod kana intawn among tinigom diri sa barangay. Ang City Government naghatag 800 sacks, ang among tagaan 4,812 (That’s not true, just now we delivered something to Alaska, and it came from our savings in the barangay. The City Government gave 800 sacks, and we’re supposed to distribute to 4,812),” said Abellana.
On May 11, 2020, reports said around 279 asymptomatic patients from Sitio Alaska were brought to the barangay isolation center (BIC) at the Alaska Elementary School. The City Government provided them provisions, from food to health kits, or so Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said.
However, a more recent report says otherwise. It said round 500 residents in the barangay who tested positive refused to be isolated.
Cebu City Health Officer Daisy Villa and Abellana admitted they could not just pull out residents by force and let them stay in the BIC.
Police Regional Office Central Visayas Chief Albert Ignatius Ferro said they are still trying their best to convince residents to submit themselves to isolation. But the police, he said, had drawn the line.
“If they will be endangering the other families of the barangay, we will be forced to bring them out of that place and bring them to the isolation area,” said Ferro.
All these give us a picture of the clutter in the way the crisis in Barangay Mambaling is being managed. And it doesn’t help when the public is getting conflicting information.