CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)—The mayor of Cagayan de Oro City on Tuesday called on all concerned persons to “set aside their differences” and turn their attention to the fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In an interview with Communications Secretary Martin Andanar during the ‘Laging Handa Network Briefing’ aired live over Radyo Pilipinas, Mayor Oscar Moreno said people should come together and focus on helping the government in finding ways to help prevent the coronavirus spread.
Moreno’s call for unity came after he reportedly opposed some village chiefs’ demand that the entire city be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
The city mayor said that Cagayan de Oro has only seven confirmed cases of COVID-19, which he said is less than half of the threshold of cases of contagion for highly urbanized cities.
He explained that restrictions on ECQ have adverse effects on the city’s coffers, saying that the GCQ must be maintained in order to generate some revenues and yield on investments.
“Currently, the city is placed under general community quarantine (GCQ). But we must do what we did in the past such as keeping people in their homes, adherence to the rules on social distancing, handwashing, and the wearing of face masks, among other health advisories and precautionary measures on COVID-19 prevention,” he added.
He also clarified that the latest resolution of the Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) provides that Cagayan de Oro City is classified as a “low-risk area” on COVID-19 transmission because the city’s efforts in curbing the spread of coronavirus have so far worked.
“We are all affected by the losses—of work, of routine, of income, of plans, and of health and lives worldwide—so the least we can contribute is to abide by protocols and never assert our social status and political positions so that we could beat COVID-19,” Moreno said. (RLRB/PIA Bukidnon)
