Biz sector welcomes lifting of curfew in Bacolod City

May 25, 2022 by No Comments

IN EFFORTS to accelerate the economic recovery efforts, outgoing Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia has decided to lift the curfew in the city effective Tuesday, May 24, 2022.Leonardia, in Executive Order No. 25 he issued, said the curfew hours from 12 midnight to 4 a.m. have already been lifted, allowing the local government to take steps to further revitalize business activities and promote consumer spending.”In line with its recovery plans, the city finds it imperative that the movements of people during the new normal should be eased and be made less constricted,” Leonardia explained.Bacolod City is one of the 39 localities belonging to the first batch of cities, towns and provinces out of about 2,000 local government units throughout the country to have been de-escalated to Alert Level 1 by the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) in March 2022.The NIATF had said that Bacolod’s inclusion was primarily due to its very high vaccination rate and continued consistent decline of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections.An indication that the city had managed the pandemic well, the agency stressed.Leonardia noted that Covid-19 cases in Bacolod have gone down and remained low since February this year.”All these accomplishments were primarily because of the cooperation of all stakeholders, the Bacolodnons from all walks,” he said.As this developed, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) Executive Director Frank Carbon expressed jubilation, citing that 30 to 40 percent of the businesses in the city operates at night time and others during the wee hours.Carbon said that hopefully the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental will also lift the curfew for other localities.This is necessary as at least 30 percent of the economy of the province is being propelled by business outside Bacolod City, the business leader added.Earlier, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he is planning to meet with local chief executives in the province about the possibility of lifting the provincewide curfew.