Fr. Arnold Abelardo (in blue shirt with ID), spokesperson of the Nueva Ecija Inter-Agency Task Force talks with a policeman in this photo that circulated in social media.
CABANATUAN CITY — The city government of Cabanatuan started enforcing longer curfew hours and stricter use of quarantine passes April 20, ten days before the lapse of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
From the former 8 p.m.–5 a.m. curfew, people will now be banned from going out of their residences from 5p.m. to 5 a.m., per Ordinance 026-2020 passed by the sangguniang panlungsod last week, according to the City Information and Tourism Office (CITO).
The ordinance which provides for the continued implementation of strict home quarantine in its 89 villages, also limited to single use the home quarantine pass (HQP) which barangays give to residents for purposes of going to market, drug stores and other essential activity. After use, this will be surrendered to the checkpoint in respective villages.
Each village will have two market days a week. Businesses authorized to operate are mandated to close at 4 p.m.
These include food establishments, water refilling stations, banks and other financing institutions, health services, supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores and sari-sari-stores selling basic commodities, dealers,suppliers or retailers of agricultural products, LPG and other petroleum products, medical and veterinary supplies, manufacturing and processing plants of basic food products and medicines, funeral parlors, veterinary clinics, delivery services of cargoes and parcels, and gasoline stations.
It is mandatory for everyone to wear at all times face mask in public places and barangay checkpoints shall always have barangay officials and barangay emergency health team members.
Under the said ordinance, no resident of other localities other than authorized persons outside residence (APOR) shall be allowed entry in this city unless for “life and death situations.”
“Kung bibili naman ng gamot na wala sa inyong lugar, mangyaring dumulog sa Mayor ng inyong lugar upang makipag-ugnayan sa LGU-Cabanatuan at humingi ng pass,” the CITO announced.
Any violator shall face imprisonment of not more than six months and fine of not more than P2,500.
Meanwhile, Fr. Arnold Abelardo, spokesperson of the Nueva Ecija Inter-Agency Task Force came under fire from city officials after he reportedly led provincial policemen in dismantling the wooden barricade which city employees put up at its boundary with Santa Rosa town.
In his Facebook post, Abelardo cited a memorandum dated March 7, 2020 which said that cargoes should be unhampered.
But 3rd District board member Jojo Matias, a known ally of the mayor, said they still have to be checked.
Mayor Myca Elizabeth Vergara described the barricade as “movable” but Abelardo said it was “immovable.”
