IATF to ensure health protocols followed in barangays

MANILA, Philippines — The government yesterday vowed to ensure that COVID-19 safety protocols are followed at the barangay level to contain the pandemic despite the relaxing of quarantine measures in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said modules might be distributed to inform the public about the importance of COVID-19 preventive measures.

Nograles, who co-chairs the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF), noted that President Duterte himself has reminded local executives to enforce more strictly the preventive protocols like physical distancing, wearing of face masks and face shields, and frequent hand washing.

“Our next step is to drill down to the barangay level... We are coordinating with barangays. We are creating modules and we are really coordinating with the barangays down to the sub-villages so our modules on prevention and detection can reach them,” he said over dzBB.

He added that the modules would contain information about the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic or CODE protocol, which seeks to find COVID-19 active cases through coordination between health officials and local communities.

“It’s really in the hands of our countrymen. Regardless of the guidelines we formulate... even if we enforce them but people make excuses not to follow them, we would have a problem,” he stressed.

Nograles said cases are being filed against establishments that violated safety protocols and local officials who fail to enforce them. – Mayen Jaymalin