THE City Government of Bacolod is still waiting for the decision of the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) on their appeal to extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to May 15, 2020.
Councilor Archie Baribar, chairman of Exit Planning Team of the city, said Wednesday, April 29, that they will wait for the decision of the NIATF if they will grant the city's request or not.
He said they unanimously approved the resolution on Tuesday's special session urgently and earnestly appealing to the NIATF to allow Bacolod City to extend the ECQ to May 15.
After the approval of the resolution, he added that he was still tasked to continue their study the city's situation after April 30.
Baribar noted that they already finished their study and they will submit it to the City Mayor's Office.
"With or without extension of ECQ, the exit plan of the city is already finished and we will submit it to the mayor," Baribar said.
He said the city government is well prepared after the April 30.
Councilor Renecito Novero, who authored the resolution, said the City of Bacolod is doing its utmost to prevent the further contagion of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) among Bacolod residents.
He said Bacolod City serves as the center of businesses and leisure in the Province of Negros Occidental and even the Island of Negros and the lifting of ECQ will predictably cause a sudden influx of people in the city whose number and movements nay become already beyond control.
The approved resolution was already forwarded to the Office of the President, Malacanang Place, the National IATF, the Regional IATF, Office of the City Mayor of Bacolod, Office of the Lone Congressional District of Bacolod, Office of the Governor, Province Negros Occidental and the Office of the Provincial IATF with dispatch.
Negros Occidental will downgrade its coronavirus disease (Covid-19) measure to general community quarantine starting May 1 based on the recommendation by NIATF after Negros and Bacolod were assessed to be under "moderate risk".
