Zamboanga City closes its doors to all incoming land,sea, and air transportation starting Monday noon, March 16, 2020 based on the signed Executive Order BD 552-2020 of Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar.
With the closing of the doors of the city to incoming transportation, many interpreted it as a lockdown. In the said Executive Order, the mayor stated that it is not a lockdown, but rather an urgent preventive measure against the entry of the dreaded Covid-19 disease in to Zamboanga City.
The city has no Covid-19 cases as of yet, as the Mayor announced in her 8:00pm message to the people of Zamboanga Sunday night. Less than an hour after her aired message, the Task Force Covid-19, which is headed by the Mayor released an information that the city already monitoring 85 persons, and 7 persons under investigation.
In the Executive Order, the suspension does not include the movement of goods, supplies, emergency vehicles from other province and outgoing passenger trips.
There is no information on when the suspension is going to be lifted.
The order includes all domestic trips and air and sea travel to and from Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia.
The mayor also warned business establishments who will take advantage of the prices of commodities, the “local government will penalize violators”.