ILOILO City – For the unhampered flow of people, vehicles and goods beginning June 1, this city, the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, Capiz, and Guimaras would be opening their borders. There would be no more border restrictions and quarantine passes would no longer be required.
Western Visayas would be under a modified general community quarantine by June 1.
According to this city’s Mayor Jerry Treñas, he and governors Arthur Defensor Jr. (Iloilo), Rhodora Cadiao (Antique), Florencio Miraflores (Aklan), Esteban Evan Contreras (Capiz), and Samuel Gumarin (Guimaras) also agreed that airports and seaports would remain closed except for the transport of returning stranded residents of the region, and delivery of essential goods.
Negros Occidental’s Gov. Jose Eugenio Lacson and Bacolod City’s Mayor Evelio Leonardia also attended the virtual meeting of Treñas and the governors but did not right away commit to open their borders, citing their uncertainty as to when the trips of fast crafts between Negros Occidental / Bacolod City and Panay Island would resume.
“Kita willing magbaton sa ila, sila lang ang daw indi pa. Mahulat kita kon san-o sila ready na,” said Treñas.
A modified general community quarantine is the transition phase between general community quarantine and the “new normal” when restrictions are further relaxed and become less necessary such as limiting people’s movement and public transportation, the operation of industries and the presence of uniformed personnel to enforce community quarantine.
All persons will be allowed outside their houses, although minimum public health standards will still have to be complied with.
Public gatherings such as movie screenings, concerts, sporting events and other entertainment activities will be allowed, but participants may fill no more than half of the capacity of the venue.
The same rule will apply to religious gatherings, community assemblies and non-essential work gatherings.
Antique’s Governor Cadiao said her fellow governors also agreed to maintain border checkpoints but not to block travel; the police would just be tasked to ensure that travelers observe minimum health safety protocols such as the wearing of facemasks and observing social distancing in vehicles.
They also agreed to continue requiring returning overseas workers and returning stranded local residents to undergo 14 days of quarantine and RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
According to Cadiao, the provincial governors and Treñas aimed to have uniform quarantine policies by June 1 when the region transitions to a modified general community quarantine.
Early this week, Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas pushed for a “one Panay policy” on quarantine covering the islands of Panay and Guimaras.
A unified quarantine policy would make it easier for local authorities to manage their borders and the return of stranded individuals such as overseas workers, said Gonzales.
“Para hindi magkagulo…kasi nangyayari ngayon, iba’t-iba ang policies” on community quarantine-related border restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he lamented.
As of yesterday, May 29, the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Western Visayas stood at 113 with 81 patients having recovered and 10 mortalities.
Thus, according to the Department of Health, the region’s active COVID-19 cases stood at only 22.
Here’s the breakdown of the 113 cases:
* Aklan – six
* Antique – 14
* Capiz – six
* Guimaras – zero
* Iloilo province – 20
* Negros Occidental – three
* Bacolod City – 10
* Iloilo City – 19
* repatriates – 35 (Aklan, two; Antique, four; Guimaras, three; Iloilo province, four; Negros Occidental, seven; Bacolod City, four; Iloilo City, 11)
Gonzales’ suggestion for a unified quarantine policy is not new. It was Mayor Treñas who pushed for the harmonization of border restrictions during the March 16 meeting of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region 6 office here.
During that meeting, the provincial governments of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, and Capiz agreed to do it. However, it did not push through for still unclear reasons.
As originally planned, the unified rules and regulations for the border restrictions would be released before April 1.
The governors agreed that harmonizing the rules would ease the inconvenience that the restrictions would bring on people, especially those crossing provincial boarders due to work and business, among others./PN