Zamboanga City, October 22 (PIA) - Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco clarified to the public in a video teleconference this week that there is no total and Sunday lockdown to be implemented in the city.
There is “no truth to the report circulating in social media that Zamboanga City will be under lockdown starting October 21 (Wednesday),” said Mayor Beng Climaco.
The mayor advised them (public) to refrain from spreading unreliable and unverified information in social media, but follow only legitimate sources of information from both local and national government.
“It is a classic example of fake news that just only intends to cause panic and confusion among people,” she added.
As per the initial response, there will be no Sunday lockdown, however, the schedule of curfew hours may be adjusted to cover 10PM-5AM so people will “refrain from social gatherings such as cockfighting, karaoke and from any other gathering activities", and officials are still discussing whether to implement this or not.
On the other hand, the mayor also appealed to the private and public business owners to be responsible as well as to adhere to the guidelines imposed by the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) and be mindful of the City Ordinances, for huge number of minors were seen outside their respective residences violating the guidelines.
“Let this serve as a warning to the public because the city government will be creating an enforcement team that will be dedicated to ensure that COVID-19 protocols are in adherence especially in public places,” the Mayor affirmed.
She also noted that “violators thereof will be met with penalties.”
Nonetheless, the city government reminds all residents of Zamboanga to strictly follow the safety protocols and prevent sanctions provided under Section 5 of Ordinance 532 and Ordinance 535 series of 2020.
Due to the spike of COVID-19 in community transmission, the city also expressed struggle as they ran out of hospital bed spaces and isolation areas and even most of the medical frontliners got infected by the disease.
As per the recommendation of Chief Implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. of IATF on Emerging Infectious Disease, “we would like to harmonize national policies down to the local so that we could limit and lessen community transmission, where confirmed COVID-19 patients should be quarantined in the identified isolation facilities and not at their home,” Climaco said.
More so, the city will remain under Modified General Community Quarantine until October 31, this year. (RVC/JRA/PIA-Zamboanga City)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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