SAN JOSE, Antique – For six days beginning April 1, 12 barangays here will be on “granular lockdown” due to rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COV ID-19) for the past two weeks.
Mayor Elmer Untaran said the lockdown will end on midnight of April 6 but this may be extended if “a longer period is required”.
The 12 barangays are Atabay, Badiang, 1, 4, 8, Igbonglo, Madrangca, Magcalon, Malaiba, Maybato North, San Angel, and San Fernando.
The Municipal Inter-Agency Task Force recommended the lockdown.
Untaran’s Executive Order (EO) No. 18, series of 2021 spelled out the lockdown rules.
While the lockdown is granular, a daily curfew is imposed in the whole municipality from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
All residents of the 12 barangays should strictly stay home.
Contact tracing will be conducted by the Municipal Health Office, together with the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams, COVID-19 Task Force, and Department of Interior and Local Government-hired contact cracers
Only those Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APOR) shall be allowed to enter and leave the 12 barangays.
All forms of transportation, both private and public, including the unauthorized movement of persons along the streets of the affected barangays, are restricted.
These restrictions, however, shall not apply to persons who need immediate hospital care and management.
Bars, resorts/waterparks, and other entertainment establishments are temporarily closed.
Malls, groceries, banks and other business establishments shall continue to operate provided that they maintain logbooks with legible names, addresses and contact numbers of their clients for contact tracing purposes. Clients should follow health protocols — wearing of facemasks and face shields or clear glasses, physical distancing, and disinfection of hands.
Dining establishments should have a maximum of only 50 percent seating and must close before 10 p.m.
Social gatherings which attract people to converge in public areas, are discouraged, as well as family gatherings such as birthdays, weddings, baptisms, and reunions, etc.
Wakes and funerals shall only be confined to the immediate family.
No one is allowed to drink liquor along roads, outside sari-sari stores, or other public places of the municipality.
Selling, purchasing or transporting of liquor is allowed only until 7 p.m.
The Esplanade in Barangay San Fernando will be temporarily closed until further notice.
Plant selling in the EBJ Freedom Park is temporarily suspended.
Meanwhile, passengers who are below 15 years old, above 65 years old and pregnant women shall not be allowed in public transportations except during medical emergencies, when availing of urgent legal aid, accessing basic necessities, or when going home and travelling to/from work.
Only three passengers shall be allowed per tricycle.
Tricycles/jeepneys shall maintain minimum public health standards and install transparent plastic barriers (non-permeable material) in the vehicle to separate the driver from the passengers, and passengers shall also be separated from each other.
Untaran ordered the San Jose police station, barangay tanods, Task Force COVID-19, and other government agencies concerned to enforce the lockdown measures.
For all individuals who knowingly break protocol and endanger the lives of the residents of San Jose, appropriate administrative and/or criminal charges may be filed, said Untaran./PN