ANTI-COVID-19 MEASURES

AS fears over the 2019 Coronavirus Disease or CoViD-2019 reaching pandemic proportion, Governor Amado Espino III ordered the immediate postponement of all crowd-drawing activities of the provincial government effective February 13 till the mid- April, and closure of public facilities hosting events; and temporarily suspended the engagements of the province’s cultural groups, including the provincial buses.

Exceptions to these activities, according to Provincial Administrator Nimrod Camba are the Pangasinan Day on April 5 and the Pista’y Dayat on May 1, but which celebrations can still be held albeit “in simple but meaningful ways”.

The public advisory, which was in compliance with the earlier advisories of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Health (DOH), was read by Camba during a press conference called by the Provincial Information Office at the Lingayen Resort Hotel at noon of February 13.

Gov. Espino specifically ordered immediate closure of all public facilities of the provincial government that are used as venues for large meetings, conferences, seminars, sports events, reunions, concerts, weddings, and other similar public events; and suspension of services of the provincial orchestra/band, provincial chorale, Dangoan Cultural Group, Capitol Tour Guides, and provincial buses.

The Region I Athletic Association (R1AA) meet to be hosted by Pangasinan I school division in Lingayen was already postponed earlier to March 31 to April 7, originally scheduled February 20 to 26.

Prior to this, Governor Espino already issued circular 2020-0008 that directed city and municipal mayors, presidents of Liga ng mga Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation to abide by the DOH advisory discouraging the holding of concerts, and other public events and gatherings.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan also passed a resolution on February 10 “urging all local governments of Pangasinan to include the municipal mayors and barangay captains, “to temporarily discourage the holding of public and private assemblies and gatherings in their areas of jurisdiction.”

Affected by the governor’s advisory is the Umaani Festival slated during the third week of March which instead will be incorporated as part of the simple celebration of Pista’y Dayat (Sea Festival) on May 1 while activities for the ongoing Employees Month this February will be limited to physical checkup.

Camba clarified, however, that the advisory applies only to the provincial government and local governments must decide on activities in consonance with the directives of DILG and DOH.

Meanwhile, preliminary activities prior to the Pista’y Dayat that usually draw a large gathering of people, including foreigners, have been canceled and the different tourism stakeholders in the province are drawing up the protocols for tourists and other visitors in their areas. (Leonardo Micua).

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