The passes, partly blamed for unabated coronavirus cases in the city which is still under enhanced community quarantine, have been canceled by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

“There should only be one pass per household. Before some households had two passes, sometimes three passes. That can’t be the case now,” Labella said on Wednesday in a press conference with Environment Secretary and Cebu overseer Roy Cimatu, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, IATF officials and Cebu City Health Department head Dr. Daisy Villa.

“We still have to meet for the specific guidelines. Of course, the very basic protocol remains that generally people are asked to stay home and only those with exemptions are allowed to go out.”

Village officials and the police will be in charge of the distribution process of new passes.

The suspension of passes resulted in residents of 80 barangays complaining about food provisions. Labella assured Cebu City has P500 million for relief operations of its more than 1.1 million population.

“My challenge to the barangay captains is to aspire that goal to lower the confirmed cases here,” Cimatu said.  “The cases should stop increasing in the next few days.”

As of 21 June, Cebu City has 4,412 confirmed cases, 2,237 of which are active ones. (Daily Tribune)