(2nd UPDATE) Mayor Lucio Bayron on Wednesday placed the entire Barangay Mangingisda under “mandatory extreme quarantine”, following the arrival from Iloilo of some 25 fishermen.
Starting April 15 to April 28, the quarantine passes of an estimated 150 families in the Mangingisda coastal village will be suspended as part of the procedure that was recommended by the COVID-19 Task Force of the city government.
In an early live public address, Bayron said he ordered the lockdown of the barangay after getting an incident report about the arrival last week of the fishermen from Iloilo.
Bayron said he also ordered the mandatory offshore isolation of the fishermen to prevent them from violating the social distancing measures that are imposed under the extended Luzon-wide quarantine.
“Kaninang umaga (Wednesday) nakatanggap tayo ng incident report mula sa task force COVID-19, isang Linggo na ang nakararaan may dumating sa Brgy. Mangingisda mula sa Iloilo at nakipaghalobilo na sila sa mga tao. Ang recommendation ng COVID-19 task force ay mandatory extreme quarantine dahil hindi verified kung sino ang nakasalamuha, at mandatory boundary checkpoints,” Bayron said.
“’Yong Brgy. Mangingisda ay isasailalim sa mandatory quarantine o lockdown simula [April] 15 hanggang [April] 28. Ang 26 na mangingisda ay isasailalim sa mandatory offshore isolation dahil galing sa Iloilo province na may 20 na COVID-19 positive at community transmission,” he added.
Bayron has also ordered law enforcement authorities to establish quarantine control points in the barangays that are near Mangingisda to ensure a strict “no entry, no exit” policy.
Along with the order is the commitment that the city government will send food packs to the residents of the barangays who will be affected by the lockdown.
“Mula ngayong araw na ito hanggang April 28 ay walang papasok at lalabas sa barangay. Kanselado na rin ang mga quarantine passes nila. Magbababa din tayo ng order na maghanda ng mga food packs para dyan,” he said.
City information officer Richard Ligad said contact tracing is now being conducted to find those who had been in near the fishermen.
“May dumating na mga mangingisda na dumating galing sa lugar na may local transmission at binabantayan natin ng maigi ‘yan. May information rin na nakarating sa atin na may nauna pang dumating at doon tayo medyo naalarma, tini-trace hanggang sa ngayon,” he said.
Ligad said they are also conducting a probe about the earlier group that arrived.
“Ito nga ang lagi natin sinasabi na importanteng huwag na huwag na munang lumabas ng inyong mga bahay lalo na kung hindi importante kasi hindi natin kontrolado lahat. Katulad niyan, may dumating na mangingisda, marami pa tayong mga mangingisda na nasa labas pa. Hirap tayo bantayan lahat ng puwedeng pasukan nila, back to zero tayo kung sakali kasi hindi na natin alam kung anong mayroon sa kanila hangga’t hindi natatapos ang 14-day quarantine,” he said.
Umpad’s explanation
Mangingisda barangay chairman Absalon Umpad told Palawan News that they only learned about the fishermen who arrived from Iloilo recently when they saw a man walking in their area without a face mask.
“Noong makita namin na may taong naglalakad na may dalang manok na hindi naka-mask sinita namin ito kung saan galing. Doon namin nalaman na galing Iloilo sila. Ngayon nagkaroon ng imbestigasyon yong monitoring ng team ng city at doon napatunayan na nga na ito palang iba nagsisinungaling ang sabi galing Brgy. Langogan, yon pala galing palang Iloilo,” Umpad said.
Umpad said they also learned from the fishermen that another group from Iloilo had arrived earlier on April 8.
He said that they learned from the fishermen that they went on land in Iloilo.
“Tumawag agad kami, nag-verify, hinatid namin sa bangka ang mga tao na yon at na-locate kaagad namin, dumating ang taga-city at yon na nga nagkaroon ng investigation, doon namin nalaman din na meron pa palang bangka na petsa otso pa dumating. Noong tinanong ito ng monitoring team sa investigation hindi umamin ang may-ari ng bangka, galing lang daw sila sa Langogan pero ang tao nila sa bangka umamin na sila ay galing Iloilo. Sa harap mismo ng monitoring team inamin na ng may-ari na galing taalga ng iloilo mga kwan nya,” Umpad said.
“Doon talaga sila dumaong mismo sa Iloilo kaya sila na-quarantine dahil hindi sila galing sa laot lang galing sila doon sa lugar na may mga infected din ng COVID-19,” he added.
Contact tracing of 52 families
Umpad said contact tracing was immediately ordered Tuesday night, which resulted in the quarantining of 52 families that were exposed to the fishermen.
He said they have also ordered everyone in Mangingisda not to get out of their homes until April 28.
“Kagabi nagkaroon agad ng contact tracing kami. Naglibot kami kahit gabing-gabi na hinanap namin yong lahat na nakausap ng kanilang pamilya at expose sa kanila at ito nag-trigger ito na umabot sila sa 52 families na nakasalamuha nila at ito ngayon amin na po itong pina self-quarantine,” he said.
“Masaklap nag-deklara ang ating siyudad na totally lockdown kami na walang lalabas na sa bahay, totally lockdown na ang barangay namin walang lalabas kaya ang mangyayari nito, ang cdrrmc ang syang magbibigay ng mga pagkain na ihahatid sa tahanan ilalagay lang sa pintuan,” Umpad added.
Fishermen violated 14-day quarantine
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon by the Coast Guard District Palawan (CGDPal), it reiterated that all fishermen in the province are allowed to fish.
However, it described the incident on April 14 involving fishing boats Pearl Nathaniel-2 and Gleenmar-4 as a case of violation of the fishermen of their 14-day quarantine.
Destura said the 14-day quarantine agreement after fishing activities is a policy that the fishermen agreed to.
“Sila ay pinayagang mangisda at sa pagtatapos ng gawain ay kinakailangang sumailalim sa 14 days boat quarantine na malinaw na ipinaalam sa kanila ng Coast Guard at Bantay Dagat, subalit ang mga crew ng nasabing bangka ay tumakas,” the CGDPal statement quoted Puerto Princesa Station commander Severino Destura.
Destura said they also found out that the crew of Pearl Nathaniel-2 lied when they said they only went fishing within Palawan.
In fact, they went to Iloilo to fish without clearance from the Coast Guard.
“Dahil dito, ang may-ari, kapitan, at crew ng bangkang Pearl Nathaniel-2 ay nahaharap sa patung-patong na kaso dahil sa paglabag sa HPCG MC 07-12 (leaving the port without clearance) at HPCG MC 05-12 (master’s failure to accomplish MDSD and connivance between shipowner/company manager),” he said.
These violations are separate from Republic Act 11332 or Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Act.
The owner and the boat captain of Gleenmar are facing charges of violating the republic act, he said. (with reports from Ruth Rodriguez)
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