Mayor Evelio Leonardia has issued an executive order placing Bacolod City under Alert Level 4 while waiting for an answer to his appeal before the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for a downgrade to Alert Level 3, Em Ang, Emergency Operations Center executive director, said Monday, November 1.
She said Health Regional Director Adriano Subaan, in a teleconference Monday morning, assured that he would favorably endorse to the IATF the city’s request for a downgrade.
It appears that the classification of Bacolod under Alert Level 4 was made based on previous data, she said, pointing out that COVID-19 cases and hospital occupancy in the city have been dropping.
In fact, the Department of Health in Western Visayas has classified Bacolod City under COVID-19 Alert Level 3, she said.
Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 51 Series of 2021 on Sunday, October 31, which is an advisory on the alert level of Bacolod City from November 1 to 14.
“We don’t see any need to change our guidelines into stricter restrictions because our COVID- 19 numbers have gone down for more than nine days already,” she said.
Leonardia, in a letter to Health Secretary Franciso Duque III, IATF chairman, Friday, October 29, appealing for the downgrade said there is a significant reduction of COVID-19 cases and hospital occupancy in the city to reasonably loosen restrictions in order for Bacolod residents to resume earning activities.
Meanwhile, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson stressed on Monday that Negros Occidental’s alert level until November 14 will remain at two, rumors circulating Monday that it was raised to four are not true.*