By Minerva Newman CEBU CITY --- The Department of Health in Region 7 (DOH-7) declared in a press conference Friday that Cebu, and Central Visayas remained coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-safe, and asked public to refrain from posting unverified information on social media about the virus. Bohol Governor Arthur Yap (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) DOH-7 medical program coordinator for infectious diseases Dr. Van Philip Baton told media that the 26 South Koreans from Daegu City who arrived in Cebu several hours before the travel ban from Korea was implemented, “were asymptomatic and they were advised to stay in their respective hotel rooms” and placed under self-quarantine. “They are classified as persons under monitoring (PUMs),” Baton clarified, while adding that sharing and posting of unverified claims on social media should never be the cause of cancellations of hotel/resorts bookings. According to Carlo Suarez, president of Hotel Resort and Restaurants Association in Cebu (HRRAC), all hotels and resorts in Cebu were COVID-19-safe, and that they continue to closely coordinate with DOH, Cebu province, Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) so that all quarantine/health screening protocols are being followed. “We are all on top of this situation,” Suarez added. Stay kind, compassionate and caring to tourists “Stay kind to tourists amid virus scare.” This was Bohol Governor Arthur Yap’s appeal to Boholanos. Yap said that even when their numbers are falling globally, tourists have kept coming to Bohol despite the COVID-19 scare. This, he said, was a testament to Boholano hospitality. Yap called for a Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) session on February 27 to put his appeal on-record through a resolution, which the council approved immediately. “Maintaining an attitude of compassion and care for all tourists must be without discrimination, whether local, Chinese, Korean or of other nationalities and any form of discrimination towards anyone will do more harm than good to public interest,” the resolution read. Mitigating measures The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) appealed to all sectors of the business community and the government to unite and work together to take drastic measures that can contribute to mitigate the ill effects of CORVID-19 outbreak to the social, economic and business growth of Central Visayas. CCCI president Virgilio Espeleta, in a media statement Friday, said that, in view of the urgency and the worsening COVID-19 outbreak,  “we urge for a multi-stakeholder support and collaboration in finding ways to help each other survive by reaching a consensus on how we could move forward as one.” Espeleta said that CCI strongly recommended the following measures which were also adopted by the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) through a resolution during its full council meeting on February 28 in Cebu:

• For the management sector to continue operating even at break- even levels or subsidize operations to keep the business going.

• To exhaust all venues to keep their workers in the payroll, instead of resorting to layoffs; e.g. availment of leave credits, allow leave without pay (LWOP), shorter week work, training or upskilling sessions (allowances will do during training days), utilize people on special projects, research, maintenance or renovations.

• For labor sector to cooperate with management on cost saving and survival measures and voluntary LWOP, reduced work week and submit to stringent health requirements and monitoring and the labor sector to allow management to just pay them allowances for non-core jobs and training sessions.

• The banking institutions to grant reprieve on amortization and waive interest payments for a six-month period to troubled businesses, especially those that are just starting but are already challenged by the epidemic and could barely operate.
• The commercial space owners including mall operators are encouraged to grant rental holidays for a six-month period for those opting to close, or a cut on rental rates for tenants sustaining losses due to very low traffic.

• The utility companies are called to suspend some charges or at least reduce rates and to provide a leeway or moratorium on late payment penalties or notice of disconnection.

• The industry players are also requested to share costs or cluster themselves to take turns operating; e.g. like a group of 3-4 hotels to take turns operating while their bookings are referred to cluster partners and cut down rates and launching attractive domestic travel packages.

• The Philippine government is further requested to devise ways to help businesses survive the crisis by supporting the affected industries, especially the small, medium enterprises (SMEs) e.g. stimulus package, tax rebates and incentives, and loosening some financial regulations, specifically a lenient tax regulation to affected businesses.