BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Benajmin B. Magalong ordered the suspension of classes in all levels in the different public and private education institutions in the city from March 13-22, 2020 in the light of the increasing Corona virus Disease (COVID) cases aggravated by the local transmission of the virus in the country.
Under Executive Order No. 60, series of 2020, the local chief executive directed school officials and administrators to immediately sanitize and dis-infect their classrooms and facilities to prevent the transmission of the COVID 2019 in their school campuses.
Further, the City Public Information Office under the City Mayor’s Office, the Department of Education – Division of City Schools, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority were ordered to cause the widest dissemination of the aforesaid order.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation No. 922 declaring a state of public health emergency throughout the country and ordered all local government units to render full assistance and cooperation, and mobilize the necessary resources to undertake critical, urgent, and appropriate response and measures in a timely manner to curtail and eliminate the COVID-19 threat.
The local chief executive anchored the issuance of the order on the general welfare clause that gave local government units the authority to exercise powers necessary for efficient and effective governance, which duty calls for the promotion of the general welfare, health and safety of the public.
According to him, the local government, in coordination with the Department of health, has been implementing safety and precautionary measures in the city since the confirmation of local COVID transmission in the country.
He claimed that after discussions with officials from the education department and CHED, there is a need to suspend classes in all levels, public and private schools, to safeguard the students and so that the said institutions may implement stringent actions to dis-infect their respective campuses.
By Dexter A. See
