DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said it is not easy to fully rely on everyone living in the city when it comes to self-regulation during a pandemic.
This led the city to impose stricter quarantine measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The mayor on Monday, November 16, once again expressed frustration over the low compliance of some of the city’s residents on the minimum health standards and defying the city's mandate to only go out and travel for "essential purposes" such as work, business and accessing food, goods and other services.
“Kaniadto, gibilin nato sa tao ang pagsabot niana, ang disiplina, ang self-regulation. Clearly, based sa ilang behaviors, dili masaligan ang tao to self-regulate (Before, we left it to the people for them to understand, to be disciplined, and self-regulate. Clearly, based on how they behaved, it is not easy to rely on the public that they will self regulate), so we have to put in place policies to restrict movements,” Duterte-Carpio said in an interview via 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.
This had resulted in the city to reimpose some of the measures beginning mid-October this year, such as the 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, liquor ban, regulation of mass gatherings, and prohibition of non-essentials activities like leisure, amusement and gaming.
Duterte-Carpio recently signed two executive orders (EOs) on Friday, November 13.
EO No. 62, an order prohibiting non-essential travels in the city, has reimposed the usage of the food and medicine (FM) pass beginning November 17.
EO 63, which declared the city as a restricted local government unit (LGU), will limit non-city residents to come in and out of the city after the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (RIATF) in Davao Region approved it on November 12, 2020.
According to EO 63, "there is a need to seek the assistance of Joint Task Force (JTF) Covid Shield for enforcement of authorized persons outside residence (Apor) and non-Apor travel into Davao City to insulate other LGUs from the effect of the surging cases in the city as well as to further protect the residents of Davao City." This will take effect on November 18.
The mayor said there is a need to impose stricter regulations and restrictions as the city is still under quarantine.
Duterte-Carpio in late October also aired her frustration to Dabawenyos after "failing" to self-regulate.
Early August, the city lifted the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m curfew and the usage of the FM pass. The city also lifted in late September the 24-hour liquor ban.
However, a surge in Covid-19 cases was recorded beginning in late September. Cases continued to surge in mid-October, wherein the city topped the Department of Health list of areas with high newly recorded cases in a single day.
"There goes ang atoang giingong nga self-regulation, bagsak. Bagsak ang Davao City (Davao City failed in self-regulation)," the mayor said in a radio interview on October 26.
'Anti-poor' EOs
Kilusang Mayo Uno-Southern Mindanao Region (KMU) staged on Monday, November 16, a protest at the Roxas Freedom Park criticizing the city’s “anti-poor” policies, including the reimposition of the curfew, FM pass and the irregularities in the implementation of the Safe Davao QR (DQR) code.
KMU Spokesperson PJ Dizon told SunStar Davao in a phone interview that the reimposition of the curfew and FM pass had already affected the livelihood and jobs of many Dabawenyos.
“Giimplementa ra kini sa LGU nga walay klarong konsultasyon ug pagpasabot. Ang nahitabo mas nisaka pa hinuon ang kaso (The LGU implemented these policies without even consulting or letting the public understand. What happened is that cases even surged),” Dizon said.
He also said the city failed to address the continuing spike of cases in the city despite imposing its “militaristic” approach to addressing the pandemic.
He said the local government must concentrate on medical solutions such as mass testing and improving healthcare facilities.
He also chided the mayor for continuously blaming the public for the continuous increase of cases in the city.
“Diha mi masakitan kay ang katawhan mismo ang basulon nga gahi kuno’g ulo ang mga Dabawenyo, wherein the mere fact nga ang Davao isa sa mga law-abiding citizen, base gani sa mga survey nga gapagawas,” Dizon said.
(What disappoints us is that the government kept on blaming the public that Dabawenyos are hardheaded, but in fact, they are one of the most law-abiding citizens. A survey even said that.)
Duterte-Carpio has contradicted some claims that the recently issued EOs is "anti-poor."
"I believe this is not anti-poor. Wala ‘ta nag-restrict sa trabaho sa tao (we didn’t restrict the public to go to works since) they are allowed to work and do business," she said, adding that their policies had been subjected to health protocols established by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
The mayor admitted that these measures are inconvenient to the public. She then asked for the public to understand that the city is still under quarantine.
“Understandably, palisod siya sa tao because there is the curtailment of the freedom that we used to before (this brought hardship and inconvenience to the public). But karon that there is a quarantine, need ma-understand sa tao ang implementation sa IATF (But since we are under quarantine, there is a need for the public to understand that the IATF ordered) that movements should only be for work, business and access for essential goods and services,” the mayor said.