Capas residents hold small rally, mayor appeals to gov’t to reconsider Athletes Village as quarantine area

February 9, 2020

Some residents near an area which served as the athletes quarters in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in December staged a small protest against the government's move to use it as a quarantine area for 56 Filipinos arriving from Wuhan, center of the 2019 novel coronavirus.

News reports said the rally, led Saturday, was quiet. The 56 Filipinos are expected to arrive in Capas, Tarlac early Sunday where they will be quarantined for 14 days.

On Friday, Capas Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan appealed to the government to reconsider its decision transforming the Athletes Village as a quarantine area.

In the Facebook page of the Capas Information Office, Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan said:  ''I feel perturbed by the fact that Department of Health (DOH) did not at all, in any way, involve the Capas LGU in its last-minute decision for New Clark City Capas to be used as quarantine zone for these Persons under Monitoring (PUMs).''

''We acknowledge that the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has full jurisdiction over NCC, but I, as the Mayor of Capas, appeal in behalf of all Capaseños to our dear President Rodrigo Duterte and DOH Secretary Francisco Duque to consider another place or facility as isolation area,'' said Catacutan.

The Capas town council held an emergency meeting on Friday where it is planning to file a temporary restraining order to stop the other batches of repatriated Filipinos from arriving at Clark. DMS