Cebu to share best practices with Bacolod, Iloilo cities

CEBU, Philippines — With no COVID-19 playbook at hand, the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo will get access to the best practices of the major tri-cities of Metro Cebu in fighting against Covid-19.

This as the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) will be sharing to other LGUs in the Visayas region the steps taken by Cebu in combating the virus.

OPAV Assistant Secretary Anthony Gerard “Jonji” Gonzales revealed in yesterday’s Mugstoria Ta, aired via the Facebook page of OPAV, that both Bacolod and Iloilo have asked for assistance after seeing a surge in coronavirus cases lately. Gonzales is also OPAV’s special concerns officer for Western Visayas.

Based on their monitoring, Gonzales said Bacolod and Iloilo’s cases have increased, following the return of the locally stranded individuals (LSI) and overseas Filipinos in their hometowns and neighboring areas.

Data from the Department of Health-Center for Development-Western Visayas showed there are currently a total of 1,021 active cases in the region, majority of which are LSIs, returning overseas Filipinos, as well as authorized persons outside their residences (APOR). The deaths are pegged at 31 while total cases are at 2,046.

Because of the rising cases, the National Task Force for Covid-19 has approved the suspension of repatriation of LSIs and ROF in Negros Occidental, Bacolod and Iloilo City for 14 days starting last Saturday.

Gonzales told The FREEMAN that both Bacolod and Iloilo have asked for their assistance, especially with regard to the use of public schools as isolation centers for the LSIs.

“We’ll help them bring it up with DepEd and IATF,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales said OPAV has asked the cities of Cebu City, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu to share their practices and lessons in fighting COVID-19.

Lessons

Lawyer Mary Rose Lubino, chief of staff of Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, said the establishment of cluster clinics, barangay isolation centers, augmentation of the contact tracing teams, and gradual opening really helped the city’s fight.

Lubino also said they are also strictly monitoring the LSIs, as well as giving assistance to those stranded and outgoing.

Mandaue City, through lawyer August Lizer Malate, shared that the establishment of an emergency operations center like that of Cebu City helped the city to be more focused rather than do multitasking.

Mandaue has already established six specialized teams with specific functions, including a separate contact tracing teams, diagnostic and testing teams, patient management and monitoring team, logistics team and the data management team.

For his part, Lapu-Lapu City administrator, lawyer Danilo Almedras, said that while the city does not have its own EOC, the City Health Office and its disaster team are closely coordinating with each other.

They have also introduced novel ideas to inform the public about COVID-19 and the strict implementation of the quarantine protocols.

Constant information dissemination about Covid-19 helped, that even the tricycle drivers have been mobilized for recorida.

Residents were also given assurance that they will get city support, especially when the head of the family is pulled out for isolation.

Both Lubino and Almedras said that even as cases go down, there should be no room for “complacency.”

Meanwhile, OPAV is also looking at sharing the Project Balik Buhay guidelines to the other areas in the Visayas who are eyeing to reopen their economies. — JMD (FREEMAN)