Cinemas will reopen in Valenzuela City on Friday as the national government green-lighted the opening of leisure activities starting March 5 amid the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Mayor Rex Gatchalian made the announcement on Thursday as he said the city only has "a handful of cinemas," which the local government can easily monitor.
"Six to be exact. So it’s not a very big number to regulate. So we’re just going to intensify regulate these cinemas," he said in an ANC interview.
In complying with the Department of Trade and Industry's memorandum that allows the reopening of cinemas, Gatchalian said the local government did this as it "has always followed the national government's policies" since day one of the pandemic.
"We may have our reservations. But then, the national government experts already gave us a directive by all means, we follow and we work within the framework," he said.
Gatchalian noted the importance of efficient contact tracing efforts to minimize the spread of COVID-19.
Recently, the city linked its ValTrace—an application that generates QR (quick response) code for contact tracing purposes—with the program of Pasig, Mandaluyong, and Antipolo cities for "expansive" contact tracing efforts.
"It will go back to contact tracing," he said.
"Basically what we're going to do is to minimize the risk, by managing the risk, by making sure that in the event that our people, our residents go out of the city, we are able to track down where they’ve been or if there are potential exposures in the process," he added.