Quarantine to be relaxed

Dear sponsors,The COVID-19 pandemic really caused so much difficulty on every family here in our community, especially our PASUK-supported families.

When the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) started on the last week of March 2020. All of the minors, from 18 yrs. And down, and all the seniors from 60 yrs. and up, were not allowed to go out from their respective houses. That's the start when people felt the difficulty because most of the houses of our families here are very small. 24/7 they were packed inside their homes, experiencing so much discomfort because of very poor ventilation and very limited space.

Almost all kinds of job and work were stopped thus making the situation worst, because people have no livelihood already. For almost 3 months, our Pasuk families suffered scarcity of daily needs, especially food and water.

The helps of our government in the form of food packs and financial assistance was really of great help to the poor families, especially our beloved PASUK-supported families. The heavy burden became a little bit lighter when we started our COVID-19 relief aid project by giving weekly food packs to each of our PASUK scholars. They were so happy and so grateful, because the weekly food pack that we gave to them became an important part of their weekly sustenance.

Every week they were looking forward to receiving our food pack. Our PASUK staff were doing their best in preparing that all the contents of our food pack were according to what they really need.

During the whole duration of ECQ, we really felt so much difficulty because there were so many restrictions. Only one member of the family is allowed to go out and only to buy food and water. Buying food and essentials in the markets and stores were not easy because of the long line of people.

It adds to the difficulty were the lack of supplies and expensive prices of basic commodities. There was that point just to lessen the number of people. The entry to our public markets were done alphabetically. Every week, each family was only allowed once to buy in the public market.

Above all, what really made the situation worst was the fast spread and rise of COVID-19 positive cases in our country. The epicenter is on our capital city, the Metro Manila and the second badly hit is our own city, the Metro Cebu.

Since the start of ECQ and until today, our COVID-19 positive cases is rising everyday by the hundreds. As of today, the total number of COVID-19 cases in our country is almost 25,000 already.

Last June 1, 2020 almost all cities and towns here in our country are already placed under General Community Quarantine (GCQ). At first we thought that during GCQ, we will already feel loose because some restrictions in ECQ will already be lifted during GCQ.

During GCQ, 50% of every company's workforce will already be permitted to work. More public buses will be allowed to ply the designated major routes. Some cabs are already allowed to ferry people. But strict physical distancing will be observed. All private vehicles are already allowed to go out.

But the people are still facing difficulties even during this time of GCQ. Many people are happy because they can already go back to their work, but the problem is the transportation. Many are complaining of the lack of public transportation. Public Jeepneys, tricycles, and pedicabs (bike cabs) are still not allowed.

Many of our PASUK parents and guardians are Jeepney, cab and pedicab drivers. Until now, they have no work. They still don't have means to earn their living.

As of now, we fear that after June 15, many of the barangays here in Cebu City will again be put under Enhanced Community Quarantine because of the consistent rise of COVID-19 positive cases every day.Thank you so much for your prayers and support to our ministry.To God be all the glory!Russel Villafuerte Pasuk Project Director, Cebu Bible Church