NEGROS Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he will be releasing a new executive order putting the province under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Under MGCQ, “everybody is allowed to go out of their houses including minors and senior citizens, but they still need to wear masks,” Lacson said.
Under MGCQ, mass gathering will be allowed up to 50 percent capacity including movie houses, Lacson said
He added that restaurants will allow dine-in service, and even gyms, parlors and salons will be allowed to operate on a 50 percent capacity.
Lacson said under MGCQ, the borders between Negros Occidental and Oriental will remain closed.
While maritime and aviation sectors will be opened, officials in Western Visayas have agreed to have their airports and seaports closed, he added.
We will make an appeal to the national government “that only OFWs and stranded individuals will be allowed to come in,” the governor pointed out.
If our appeal is disallowed, “we will try to test all those coming into Negros before they are allowed to go home,” Lacson said.
The local government units, he said, cannot accommodate everyone if we quarantine all of them.
The National Inter-Agency Task Force had earlier classified the province under MGCQ as it is already low risk to the threat of coronavirus.