BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia has issued Executive Order (EO) No. 20 suspending all classes, public and private, in all levels, until further notice, thereby repealing Executive Order Nos.14 and 15, Series of 2020.
The EO signed by Leonardia dated March 14 stated that all classes in all levels, for both public and private schools, be suspended effective immediately until further notice.
Leonardia said it is left to the sound discretion of school officials and/or school board of directors, in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) and Department of Health (DOH) advisories, and after close consultation with and/or approval of the Department of Education (DepEd) or the Commission on Higher Education, to undertake certain strategies for the continued education of their students during this period of suspension.
He said on March 11, EO No.14 was issued ordering the closure of pre-school, primary, and secondary levels in public schools on March 20, and that of tertiary and graduate levels in all public schools in the city on March 27. He also issued EO No. 15, Series of 2020 on even date ordering the closing of classes in all levels for all private schools on March 27.
The following day, March 12, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease, this, upgrading the Code Alert System for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to Code Red Sublevel 2 and placing Metro Manila under “community quarantine.”
Leonardia said the 30-day community quarantine in Metro Manila, which will commence from March 15 until April 14, 2020, has caused many Bacolodnons to rush home before aforesaid community quarantine in Metro Manila took effect.
“Such a community quarantine in Metro Manila may have also prodded other non-residents to take refuge in cities and municipalities like Bacolod City, which have no record yet of local transmission,” he said.
As a result, the City Government of Bacolod issued Executive Order No.19 Series of 2020, which declares, among others, that persons coming from Metro Manila, from other areas with local transmission, or from abroad, and who show no symptoms of infection of Covid-19 to be persons under monitoring (PUMs), and should undergo home quarantine for a period of 14 days from the time they arrive in Bacolod City.
The same EO No. 19 also provides that family and households members of the PUMs are obligated to observe social distancing, restrict local travel especially to places where many people loiter or congregate, avoid crowded places, practice personal and environmental hygiene and sanitation, cough etiquette, eat properly cooked and health food, drink plenty of water, and practice a healthy lifestyle.
“There now arises a heightened threat to the health and well-being of students from an increased population of PUMs in Bacolod City, which requires a more stringent form of social distancing thru the temporary suspension of classes in all levels for both public and private schools in the city until further notice,” Leonardia said.
He said the Negros Occidental Chapter of the Philippines Pediatric Society led by its President, Dr. Annilyn Bergante, has appealed to the City Government on March 14 for the same emergency protection measure to reduce the risk contagion of Covid-19 among the studentry.