The national government gave, the other day, dissimilar marks in the virtual report cards of the different local government units in Central Visayas fighting the dreaded Corona virus. It will supposedly be on May 16, when the effects of this new categorization will be implemented. In my assessment, there were only two kinds of grades announced. Those localities which performed well in controlling the spread of the disease were given a form of passing mark. Their rating is presently publicized as General Community Quarantine (GCQ, for purposes of brevity). Those LGU’s which were then evaluated as failures in containing the virus had to remain under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). The subsequent guidelines indicated that the cities and municipalities in the province of Cebu and the highly urbanized cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue are being labeled to be under GCQ, somewhat freed, even on a limited scale, from the claustrophobic effects of quarantine. On the other hand, Cebu City, which reportedly surpassed Metro Manila in the number of persons found CoViD 19 positive, and has thus become the new epicenter, remained under a modified ECQ tag.
In the same morning when the national government issued the latest crisis related risk classifications, dyAB’s Mr. Leo Lastimosa, asked, in a muted broadcast, a mouthful of difficult questions on Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella. (By the way, i use the word muted because with ABS-CBN having signed off, dyAB availed of other platforms to broadcast.) I felt that the very way Lastimosa raised those points could have, in part, formed the bases of the pronouncement of the national leadership. Let me echo one, just one, of the broadcaster’s queries in the hope that the mayor finds time to answer this question and those relevant to it, and appease my disquietude.
The popular radio anchor informed his listeners that a test kit bought by the city is not registered in the Food and Drug Administration. His source is Dr. Daisy Villa, the head of the City Health Department. He claimed that if this information is correct, the test kit is “colorum”, to use his alarming word. It can be safely surmised that the health Officer was not consulted before the city purchased it.
Yet, on the first day of the work week, I heard contradicting pronouncements of Atty. Floro Casas, the city administrator and Dr. Villa. The lawyer claimed that those residents of Sitio Zapatera, Barangay Luz, previously found CoViD 19 positive, were already tested and the new tests showed negative result such that they were allowed to go home. Dr. Villa, factual but not combative, denied what Atty. Casas said. According to her, no such tests had, as yet, been done. The point raised by Lastimosa in his broadcast led me to conclude that the doctor was not consulted in the acquisition of the kits. It stood to reason that she was not involved in the health related project. And considering that Dr. Villa is the City Health Officer, may I also ask why?
The discordant voices of Atty. Casas and Dr. Villa led me to do something that i, in an earlier article, promised to refrain from doing. To confess, I sent a text message to the mayor, last Monday, to address a seemingly worrisome glitz in administration. I furnished a copy of my text to the vice mayor. The mayor replied in the evening. He wrote “we have settled the problem today”.
Then came, on Tuesday, the Malacañang pronouncement and the seering questions of Leo Lastimosa. What has the mayor then settled?