The local Inter-Agency Task Force for the management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) is planning to open the Climaco Freedom Park to the Catholic faithful for the observance of the Holy Week in April.

The freedom park is in Mount Abong-Abong, Barangay Pasonanca, where thousands of Catholic devotees gather during Holy Week for the Way of the Cross.

Some stay overnight at the freedom park and go home after the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ.

“We are studying the possibility that the celebration in the premises of Mount Abong-Abong in relation to the Holy Week will be opened once again to the public,” Dr. Elmeir Apolinario, local IATF-EID chief implementer said Tuesday.

The Climaco Freedom Park was declared off-limits to visitors since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic in March 2020.

Before the health pandemic, the freedom park also catered to visitors and served as the venue of activities of different groups including the Boy and Girl Scouts of the Philippines.

Public gatherings, both indoor and outdoor, are allowed since the city is already under Alert Level 1 effective March 1 as the number of active cases of Covid-19 continued to drop.

“The most important thing that we have to ensure is the compliance with the minimum health standards like the wearing of face mask,” Apolinario said.

He said they also have to prepare security and traffic plans to be implemented at the park during Holy Week.

The city has cumulative confirmed cases of 28,753 with 27,473 recoveries, or recovery rate of 95.54 percent; 76 active cases, and 1,204 deaths as of March 7. (PNA)