BALANGA CITY — Workers of multi-national companies at the Freeport Area of Bataan will be affected by the 14-day lockdown of nine barangays in Mariveles town where FAB is located, Gov. Albert Garcia said Saturday.
With the lockdown, the affected villages will be placed under the enhanced community quarantine status, Garcia noted: “So, kahit hindi natin i-lockdown ang mga kumpanya sa loob ng FAB, definitely apektado sila ng lockdown dito sa siyam na barangay.”
He said that most of the FAB workers are residing in the nine barangays of Mariveles that the regional inter-agency task force approved Friday to be placed in a 14-day lockdown from September 12–26 to stop the increasing number of cases of the coronavirus disease.
Mariveles Mayor Jocelyn Castaneda and the provincial IATF, chaired by Garcia, requested for the lockdown.
The nine barangays are Poblacion, Camaya, Maligaya, San Carlos, San Isidro, Sisiman, Balon Anito, Malaya and Ipag, most under Lower Mariveles where many workers are renting bedspaces.
“Alam niyo naman sa Lower Mariveles, dikit-dikit angmga bahay. Kahit wala nga kayong hanapbuhay pero may kaunting espasyo sa bahay, bedspacer na kaagad yan. Kikita na agad ng buwan-buwan sa bedspace,” Garcia said.
“So, sa pagdedeklara o implementasyon ng ECQ doon sa nine barangays talagang maapektuhan yong dami o numero ng empleyado sa mga locators natin sa FAB,” he added.
He said that he has talked with FAB administrator Engr. Emmanuel Pineda to strictly implement guidelines on ECQ.
“Alam naman nila ang address ng mga workers. Kung doon talaga sa apektadong barangay na iyon at na-ECQ ay talagang hindi na papasukin. So kunwari, lilipat sa kapit–barangay na hindi naman naka-ECQ that would defeat the purpose kaya iistriktuhan nila admin Pineda ito dahil kung hindi natin gagawin ito, maaaring maghawa-hawa pa rin,” the governor said.
FAB information officer Hazel Keith Ellorin said they have no data on how many workers there are in each of the barangays but she assured that the workers from the affected areas will not be allowed to report during the duration of the lockdown.
She said that factories are still operating since these are included in the exemption set by IATF. Ellorin did not say the number of companies still operational.
Before the onslaught of the Covid–19 pandemic, operational at the FAB, the former Bataan Export Processing Zone turned Bataan Economic Zone, were more than 90 locators with 45,000 workers.
