Cebu City residents lament lockdown, say they weren’t notified

Cebu City residents on Wednesday lamented the lockdown imposed by authorities amid the enhanced community quarantine, saying that they were not notified in advance.

According to Ian Cruz's report on "24 Oras," a resident of Barangay Luz, one of the barangays with the most reported COVID-19 cases, expressed her anger after being forbidden by police authorities to leave the area to withdraw money.

"Dapat, sir, nag-ano sila, nag-abiso sila kahit isang araw lang. Eh, 10 o'clock ng gabi, anong magagawa namin? Pag-mata, pag-ano namin sa umaga wala na kaming magagawa," Ailyne Cabuenas said.

Police Officer 1 Jojo Labanera, however, explained that they were trying to control the volume of people outside.

"Ang ginagawa namin, 'yung mga emergency na lalabas sila katulad ng pera, 'yung mga emergency katulad ng gamot, pinaisa-isa namin 'yung paglabas," he said.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu arrived in Cebu City on Tuesday to oversee its COVID-19 response. The city was placed on lockdown on Tuesday night while quarantine passes had also been suspended.

As of Wednesday, Cebu City has reported a total of 4,539 coronavirus cases, including 100 deaths. — Joahna Lei Casilao/BM, GMA News