Manila mayor orders 24-hour barangay shutdown after supposed quarantine protocol violations

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 13) — Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso ordered a 24-hour shutdown of Barangay 20 after residents supposedly defied enhanced community quarantine guidelines.

Moreno signed on Monday an executive order placing Barangay 20 in Parola Compound, Tondo under total shutdown from 8 p.m. of April 14 to 8 p.m. of April 15.

The move was in light of reports that residents have been taking part in boxing and bingo, defying stay-at-home and physical distancing protocols.

“A video was posted on Facebook showing a group of more or less one hundred people, including children, participating and spectating in what appears to be an informally organized boxing match by the side of the street,” the executive order read.

It added that given the dense population in the barangay and in the city in general, “such risk of exposure creates imminent danger to the lives of the residents.”

“During the said shutdown period, all residents of the said barangay shall be strictly confined to their residences and are prohibited from going out of their houses,” the order stated.

Health workers living in the barangay, as well as uniformed personnel and government workers rendering essential or emergency frontline services are exempted from the restriction.

Moreno said health officials will be conducting disease surveillance, verification or testing, and rapid risk assessment in response to COVID-19 threats.

The mayor also said all commercial, industrial, retail, institutional and other activities in the barangay shall be suspended.

Officers in strategic locations and areas of the barangay will also be deployed to enforce the shutdown.