MAYOR Oscar Moreno stood his ground as he wrote a letter to reject calls by several barangay chairpersons for him to put Cagayan de Oro under an enhanced community quarantine.

In a six-page letter dated May 2 but was made available to the media this afternoon, Moreno reiterated that as a local chief executive, declaring an enhanced community quarantine is beyond his power as there is a higher government body that decides on it.

A group of barangay chairpersons sent Moreno a petition on April 27, asking him to declare an enchanced community quarantine out of fear that the Covid-19 might further spread in the city.

A group of physicians from various medical fields also made the same appeal.

To date, there are four confirmed Covid-19 cases in Cagayan de Oro, although one of them died in Davao City, and one patient here has recovered.

Moreno noted that the barangay officials’ call “has been rendered moot by the passage of Resolution No. 29 on April 28, 2020 where IATF-EID revised its listing and classified Cagayan de Oro City, among other localities in the region, under GCQ for being moderate risk.”

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the reclassification of some parts of the country, especially Visayas and Mindanao, from enhanced to general community quarantine considering that these areas have lower number of confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Moreno said a shift from general to enhanced community quarantine “will not, by itself, guarantee the people’s complicity to the required health protocols.”

“It is thus a matter of giving teeth to the guidelines and in truly performing our respective tasks, regardless of our personal preferences. As front-liners in the fight against COVID-19, there is so much that is expected from us,” he added.

The mayor also replied to the barangay leaders' query on the P300-million calamity fund and the P500-million supplemental budget recently approved by the city council to finance the anti-coronavirus efforts.

“In both instances, it has been insinuated that this representation is not poised to disburse it at all. The fact is the City Government has already disbursed 30% of the Calamity Fund as Quick Response Fund pursuant to Republic Act No. 1012, amounting to P90 million,” he said.

In total, Moreno said, the city government already disbursed P159 million through food aid and relief to the affected residents, establishments of quarantine and isolation centers, as well as for purchases of needed medical and protective equipment.

“We generated the extra P69 million from the savings of the various offices under my office. We are posed to disburse more, not only for the items already enumerated, but as well as the payment of Hazard pay to our front-liners in all levels of the City Government, down to its barangays,” he said.
Moreno said Malacanang’s decision to downgrade from enhanced to general community quarantine was based on the factor that the government cannot sustain a continued dole-out under the Social Amelioration Program.

The modification of the community quarantine protocol, he said, “should not be taken mean that we stand-down or loosen-up the protocols under GCQ. Given the ‘new normal’ that goes along with easing-up, there is more reason to continue our vigilance.” (Jigger J. Jerusalem)