MAYOR'S VISIT. Mayor Edgardo Labella (center) talks to fire victims during his visit to Barangay Suba, Cebu City on Friday (Feb. 28, 2020). Labella said he asked the Bureau of Quarantine and Philippine Coast Guard - Cebu to strictly monitor seaports to prevent the entry of the new coronavirus disease. (Photo courtesy of Cebu City PIO)
CEBU CITY – Mayor Edgardo Labella on Friday asked quarantine and Coast Guard officials to prevent foreign vessels from countries affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) from docking at the local ports.
Labella said he has asked the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Cebu to monitor international vessels docking at the Cebu International Port (CIP) and other ports in the city.
He said the Department of Health (DOH) and the provincial government of Cebu have laid down strict protocols in attending to expatriates and foreign visitors arriving here from virus-hit countries.
“It seems that we are so focused on Mactan-Cebu International Airport but don’t have strict precautionary measures for our seaports,” Labella said in a media interview as he visited fire victims in the coastal village of Suba.
In his letter to the BOQ and PCG-Cebu, he said he pushed strict anchorage policies on international vessels coming from China, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau.
In case quarantine officers find passengers with symptoms of Covid-19, the vessel should be advised to leave the Cebu port, he added.
“Dili una nato sila padunggoon kun dili ma-eksamin sa BOQ ang mga crew members (We should not allow them to dock if the BOQ has not examined their crew members),” Labella said.
It can be recalled that the third case of Covid-19 in the country had a history of travel from Mactan airport to Bohol via Pier 1.
The 60-year-old Chinese woman reportedly took a fast craft to Tagbilaran City.
Labella, meanwhile, reassured Cebuanos that the City Health Office is establishing measures to prevent the viral disease from infecting the local populace.
Last week, he visited the Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center facility in the upland village of Taptap that was designated to house possible patients under investigation (PUIs) who will be placed under a 14-day mandatory quarantine.
There was a brief confrontation between city health officials and residents of Taptap, who are opposed to making their place a quarantine hub.
However, Labella intervened and assured the residents that strict protocols in attending to PUIs in the facility would be established to prevent the virus from infecting village folks. (PNA)
