This Week in Bacolod (November 22 to 28, 2020)

The Bacolod City Government implemented City Ordinance (CO) 941 that mandates all business establishments and government offices to use the COVID-19 Contact Tracing System “BaCTrac.” Meanwhile, individuals who haven’t registered to the system yet will be asked to write on the logbook provided by the establishment. Business establishments that fail to follow the government’s protocol will be fined PhP1,000 up to PhP5,000 [1].

As a way to decontaminate quarantine facilities, the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (RIATF) postponed the inbound travel of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) to Cadiz City until November 30, 2020. The order came after the government of Cadiz appealed to the RIATF to give them enough time to prepare their quarantine facilities before the arrival of the new batch of LSIs [2].

After violating safety protocols, some water parks and beach resorts in the city were forced to shut down. One of the latest to be closed was Caribbean Water Park and Resortel which received reports of multiple violations and lacking a business permit to operate under GCQ. The Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF) conducted an ocular inspection and found out children below 15 years old were in the resort and adults were also consuming alcoholic drinks. Beach resorts in Barangay Punta Taytay were also shut down due to violations of health standards and quarantine protocols [3].

The Bacolod Emergency Operations Center (EOC) temporarily closed about 15 restaurants and stores in the city after they allegedly violated safety protocols under GCQ. These establishments were located along B.S Aquino Drive, Lacson Street, Lizares Street, and fronting Bacolod Government Center.

The EOC caught them serving and selling alcoholic beverages beyond the allowed hours of 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM. According to Police Major Sherlock Gabana, cluster head of EOC contact tracing, the establishments can resume operations after 24 hours but are prohibited from selling and serving alcoholic beverages to their customers [4]. Once caught violating the health standards again, these establishments will face permanent closure, Gabana added.

Go to Yoorekka for more COVID-19 updates in Bacolod and the entire Negros island.