MAYOR Oscar Moreno said on Friday, August 14, that Cagayan de Oro will not close its borders to Iligan City and other neighboring areas in Northern Mindanao that are in need of assistance in their Covid-19 cases.
Moreno said he have offered to house coronavirus-positive individuals from neighboring areas at the city's Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facility if they do not have enough isolation facilities for Covid-19 patients.
"Let's not be paranoid. Health ang importante. Preemptive ang atong buhaton, dili ta reactive nga tungod naay local cases sa Iligan sirhan na nato dayon ug kung naay taga Iligan mosulod, imbestigahon pa," Moreno said.
"No, I have not authorized that and I will certainly not be happy with that," he added.
"Instead of closing the city's borders, we should head straight to Iligan City and help them with their Covid-19 cases," he said.
"Magtinabangay kita. Didto ang problema, atong atimanon didto ang problema. We are all in the same boat together no matter how strict you are sa atong boundary sa Opol ug boundary sa Tagoloan. If the problem will erupt, it will be very, very dangerous for all of us," Moreno said.
"Dili makatarunganon kung atong i-ban ang taga Iligan. We cannot do that and we should not do that," he added.
Iligan City has recorded a total of 123 confirmed Covid-19 cases as of August 13, 62 of which are returning overseas Filipino workers (ROF) and locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and 61 are local cases.
The city's status will go back to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) starting next Monday, August 17. The ECQ will last for 14 days.
Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) medical specialist Dr. Bernard Rocha said four coronavirus-positive patients from Iligan City are confined at their emerging and re-emerging infectious disease section.
Moreno said Cagayan de Oro's quarantine status will be directly affected if the NMMC is overwhelmed with Covid-19 cases from other parts of Northern Mindanao.
The mayor also reminded the public to observe the minimum public health standards.