Pangasinan to monitor entry of people from Manila

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines —  As Metro Manila prepares for community quarantine beginning tomorrow, Gov. Amado Espino III ordered all of the province’s 43 town and four city mayors as well as their barangay officials to be on the lookout for the exodus of people in the coming days.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” he said as he directed local officials in yesterday’s inter-agency meeting on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to monitor those who would visit localities and check them for flu-like symptoms.

If they exhibit symptoms, Espino said these people should be brought to pre-identified hospitals across the province or at pre-determined quarantine areas if they need to be isolated.

“We are in unchartered territory, we are innocent in this kind of situation where we cannot see our enemy unlike in earthquake or tsunami, but this one we do not see it… We need volunteerism and cooperation here. We have 11 entry points, excluding the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union expressway and other small barangays that they can be used in going to Pangasinan,” he pointed out. 

He added that Pangasinan remains to be a COVID virus-free province.

Meanwhile, Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil, who heads the Pangasinan Mayors’ League, declared at yesterday’s inter-agency meeting that the test conducted on him turned out to be negative for COVID-19.

He went through examination at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine last Saturday after close contact with an Australian-based Filipina who attended a class reunion on Feb. 22 in Dagupan City.

The Filipina was found positive for the disease after arriving in Australia early this month.

Bataoil pointed out that he became restless for days while waiting for the result because he interacted with many people after the reunion.

He said the provincial government of Pangasinan is on the right track in preparing its action plans, including the identification of possible quarantine sites for COVID-19 patients, based on his own experience in subjecting himself for a voluntary test.

Cainta quarantine

The entire town of Cainta in Rizal province will be placed under community quarantine starting tomorrow in response to the growing threat of COVID-19. 

Mayor Keith Nieto said the move would be done considering the presence of three confirmed cases in Barangay San Isidro and San Andres, two of whom died the other day.

“Pursuant to the President’s pronouncements, documented in an inter-agency resolution involving COVID-19, and further considering the presence of three confirmed cases of subject virus situated in (two barangays)… I am constrained to place the entire town of Cainta under quarantine,” he explained in a statement.

Local government units (LGUs) outside Metro Manila were advised to impose localized community quarantine if an entire barangay, municipality, city or province has at least two positive COVID-19 cases within its jurisdiction. 

“LGUs which have imposed community quarantine in their respective jurisdictions, upon the declaration of a state of calamity, shall be allowed to access their quick response fund,” the task force said in the resolution. 

The two COVID-19 patients – a couple from Cainta who were identified as Patients 5 and 6 – died yesterday. The 62-year-old Patient 5 frequented a prayer hall in Greenhills and was the country’s first local case. His wife, Patient 6, was recorded as the first local transmission. 

Nieto said the preventive measures like the distribution of vitamins, sanitizing and protective implements and the town-wide cleansing and cancellation of public events would continue until the quarantine would be lifted in the town. 

The municipal government had also deployed a purchase control team from the business permit office to prevent hoarding of goods. 

“There shall be no closures of stores in the whole duration of the quarantine. We will balance the priority to ensure the safety of people and the needs of workers to continue sustaining their families’ needs,” Nieto said in Filipino. – With Neil Jayson Servallos, Cesar Ramirez