Bohol closes establishments 

With potential for gathering 

CORTES, Bohol, March 28, (PIA)—In preventing the unnecessary gathering and congregation of people following the suspension of community masses and religious gatherings, the local government in Bohol orders the regulation and operating hours of business establishments in the duration of the imposed community quarantine against the threat of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) here. 

Through amended Executive Order No. 18, Governor Arthur Yap emphasized the dire need to order the closure or certain business establishments, regulate the operation of some to significantly decrease the risk of feared local transmission of the virus. 

The Executive Order, first inadvertently leaked, was an order imposing an intensified community quarantine and calibrated lockdown within Bohol pursuant to Executive Order No. 8, is now a simplified version that took out the terms that has sparked near panic especially when it came out in time with the false reports of a positive case in Bohol. 

The latest among the executive orders directly laying out the local government’s initiatives in getting people away from the potential transmission of the disease, orders businesses and commercial establishments closed and to remain so until the community quarantine in Bohol is lifted. 

However, the lock-down order for business establishments excludes about 20 other establishments that offer goods and services necessary to make communities survive with a little bit of comfort. 

For the sublime need for food, the closure order exempts public markets as long as they operate between 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM, that vendors and consumers wear face masks, that local government units and private operators impose a one-entry, one-exit policy during operation hours and that stalls within the facility which are selling non-essential goods and commodities, dry goods except textiles to be used for face masks. 

Also open for operation eve during the quarantine are slaughter houses, supermarkets, groceries and convenience stores, hospitals, medical clinics, medical facilities, diagnostic centers and laboratories, drugstores and pharmacies, water refiling stations, banks and financial institutions including pawnshops, money transfer services, lending agencies, payment and remittance centers. 

For the need for basic utilities, companies providing such like power, energy, water and telecommunications, gasoline stations and those selling liquefied petroleum gas, should remain open. 

With a strong family culture, Boholanos are now barred from putting up wakes with public viewing. While funeral parlors remain open, wakes are purely for family and should last not more than two days. 

Restaurants, fast food chains, bakeries and food establishments remain open but only for take-out services or deliveries. 

For continued stream of relevant information, the EO also allows media establishments to continue their mandates. 

Also exempted in the closure are cargo handling companies, shipping services, agricultural supplies stores for farming and fishing and other related supplies, food manufacturing and food processing plants, including facilities that produce rice grains, flour, wheat, meat, fish and related products. 

Among those allowed to remain open are hardware and construction supplies, construction firms and works, quarry operations, textile industry especially those primarily involved in the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing, laundry shops, motor and automotive vehicle repair shops and motor and vehicle supply parts stores, and the business process industry. 

While these mentioned establishments open, their operations are restricted only until 7:00 PM except hospitals, clinics, medical facilities diagnostic centers and laboratories, drugstores and pharmacies, public utilities, media establishments, cargo shipping and services and business process outsourcing. 

As they open too, the EO mandates them to reduce personnel, strictly observe social distancing measures, abide by the Department of Trade and Industry memoranda on anti-hoarding, anti-panic buying, and the Department of Health guidelines on hygiene, distancing, environmental and food safety measures. 

And when the transport sector is not among the closed services, the operators are enjoined to strictly implement the Department of Transportation capacity directives in this time of medical emergency, the drivers od such public conveyances prescribed to wear face masks at all times. 

On this, the governor, through the Executive Order discourages all residents and dwellers to go outside their homes and residences except for very important and urgent concerns. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol) 

SECURITY MEASURES: Public markets still one with the closure order for some establishments, but administrators make sure everyone wears masks, observe social distancing and they adopt one-entry, one-exit policy to facilitate movement of people. (FOTO BY Cecilio Tolop Jr.)