By Glazyl Masculino BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Evelio Leonardia announced on Thursday the suspension of graduation and moving-up ceremonies until further notice for all levels in public and private schools here due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threat in the country. Mayor Evelio Leonardia
(GLAZYL MASCULINO / MANILA BULLETIN) Leonardia issued Executive Order (E.O.) No. 16, Series of 2020 on March 11, following a series of meetings and consultations with school, health, police, social services, and disaster risk reduction officials at the Bacolod City Government Center on Wednesday. The order stated that the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) unanimously approved a resolution declaring a state of local health emergency here due to the onslaught of COVID-19 in the country. Leonardia said in the order that it was imperative that the city implements urgent and critical measures to prevent the spread of the disease. “It is with a heavy heart to make this decision but with the present circumstances, it is the most prudent thing to do,” the mayor said. Leonardia also issued E.O. No. 17, implementing heightened precautions against COVID-19 for Day Care Centers and Supervised Neighborhood Play (SNP) here to safeguard the health and safety of children by shortening their classes, thus, ensuring that they spend more time in the care of their parents. The order stated that it was the intention of the city government to take major preventive measures to protect its citizens from possible exposure to carriers or sources of COVID-19. Leonardia said that classes in all day care centers and SNP will only be until March 13, and the holding of moving-up ceremonies have been suspended. Leonardia also said that classes in all levels in both public and private schools here will be until March 20 and 27, respectively. “We will end School Year 2019-2020 earlier so that pupils and students can observe social distancing measures to avoid contamination and spread of the virus,” he said. DepEd Bacolod Schools Division Superintendent Gladys Amylaine Sales welcomed the mayor’s decision, saying that it did not need the approval of the central office. “This decision is consistent also with that of the good Secretary Leonor Briones,” she said. Sales, however, said that public schools under the Department of Education (DepEd) have not suspended classes since they are almost done with all the learning competencies for the school year. “That’s why we decided to end face-to-face classroom interaction by March 20. After that, all our learners will be given home self-help activities. The five days from March 22 to 27 are non-contact days, but are still counted as part of the school days,” she said. Sales added that Briones has suggested that the end of school year rites can still be held between April 13 and 17 “when everything will be okay”.