Kabankalan City to open borders for Mabinay residents for 12hrs
The Negros Occidental provincial government will ease border control between Kabankalan City and Mabinay town in Negros Oriental starting March 1 mainly to boost commerce and trade while observing health protocols against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In an interview on Wednesday, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said residents of Mabinay will be allowed to enter Kabankalan, located in the southern part of the province, for up to 12 hours a day.
“They can enter using only private vehicles. We will just give them 12 hours to stay within Kabankalan…The reason is really for commerce, and sometimes for medical reasons,” Lacson added.
He said residents of Mabinay prefer to go to Kabankalan rather than in other areas of Negros Oriental since it is closer than the nearest city in their province, which is Bais.
Lacson added that he does not think that Mabinay residents, after reaching Kabankalan, would eventually travel to Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental, because the municipality itself has strict quarantine protocols for travelers.
“Mabinay will quarantine its residents if they go beyond 24 hours from the time they leave. I don’t think anybody would want to go all the way to Bacolod only to be quarantined when they go back to Mabinay. It doesn’t make sense. I also feel that the 12 hours in Kabankalan is enough,” he said.
Last month, Lacson said the mayors in Negros Occidental agreed not to lift the border control yet since active cases in Negros Oriental are higher, but said they will observe how things will eventually go.
“I will also talk to the mayor of San Carlos and ask him if he will also agree to this arrangement (similar to the one) between Mabinay and Kabankalan,” Lacson said.
In the north, the borders in the three villages of San Carlos City have already been opened late last year.
Although the San Carlos-Vallehermoso border control has already been eased on Oct. 31 yet, travelers from Negros Oriental still need to have valid reasons and have to secure travel authority before crossing to Negros Occidental.
The four border control checkpoints being maintained by Negros Occidental are at the boundaries of Isabela town and Guihulngan City, La Castellana town and Canlaon City, Kabankalan City and Mabinay town, and Hinoba-an town and Bayawan City.
As of Feb. 16, Negros Occidental has 64 active COVID-19 cases while Negros Oriental has 168.