Baguio village locked down; Barangay officials castigated

By Pigeon Lobien  

LOCKDOWN. Policemen are stationed at the entries and exits to Barangay Pinget, Baguio City . Mayor Benjamin Magalong had the village declared on lockdown Wednesday for not following the enhance community quarantine. – PIO Baguio

BAGUIO CITY – Police on Wednesday night placed checkpoints at the entry and exit points to Barangay Pinget here after it was declared under lockdown by Mayor Benjamin Magalong for the failure of its officials to implement the enhanced community quarantine to control the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

               Baguio City Police Office chief, Col. Allen Ray Co said they had already implemented the lockdown around 6:30 p.m.

"We established checkpoints in all the entry and exit points of the barangay and no one will be allowed to leave or get in except the critical establishment workers," he said.

After several warnings starting Tuesday last week to comply with the curfew, staying at home and mandatory wearing of face masks for residents, Magalong finally declared the said village under lockdown.

“Matigas talaga mga ulo at ayaw sumunod ang mga residente (The residents are hard-headed and refuse to comply [with the quarantine]),” Magalong said.

“We found out today that some residents continue to loiter around and do not adhere to the prescribed physical distancing,” he added.

Magalong said the villagers could still go out during the four-hour window to go to the market and purchase goods for their sustenance.

Pinget is in District 8, which has a quarantine window of Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 1-5 p.m.

Two more barangays might also be locked down for failure of its village officials to implement the community quarantine to stop the spread of the Covid-19.

Magalong on Thursday warned residents of barangays San Carlos Heights and Quezon Hill Extension that they will follow the fate of Barangay Pinget.

Magalong visited the two barangays and told residents there to comply with the community quarantine or face lockdown.

7 villages on escalated quarantine

Seven barangays are on a 14-day escalated enhanced community quarantine where one has a confirmed case of Covid-19 and two are presumptive positive of the deadly disease.

Magalong earlier declared Barangay Loakan and its neighboring villages under an escalated quarantine. The six barangays include Loakan Proper, Loakan Liwanag, Loakan Apugan, Atok Trail, Kias and Fort del Pilar that houses the Philippine Military Academy.

“I have also declared barangay Trancoville under the same situation after one of the presumptive positive cases is from that barangay,” he told a recent media forum.

Magalong said as of March 25, three cases have been reported in the city, all of them came from outside. The first was a 61-year-old female overseas Filipino worker from Italy, followed by a 52-year old female from Ortigas, Mandaluyong and a 55-year-old male from Makati City.

Four patients under investigation have been reported to have died but the laboratory test result of the two that was later released by the Department of Health-Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (DOH-RITM) showed negative of Covid-19.

Latest figures show that Baguio has 1,847 persons under monitoring (PUMs) who went on a 14-day quarantine.

A total of 425 PUMs have completed their 14-day quarantine. There are 259 patients under investigation (PUI) in isolation and 21 admitted in medical facilities. (PNA)