Things are getting better in Cebu

Exactly a week from today is July 16, the day that we might return to a general community quarantine (GCQ). If we have some kind of confidence in this, it is due to the fact that Secretary Roy Cimatu declared that he is optimistic that the ECQ in Cebu City may finally be downgraded to GCQ by July 16. But just the same, he said, that the sequential lockdowns would have to be maintained.

Meanwhile, The FREEMAN reported that the Department of Health (DOH) identified Cebu City, Cebu province, Lapu-Lapu City, and Mandaue City as among the top 6 hot spots of COVID-19 in the country, along with Quezon City and Manila. But Sec. Cimatu said there are certain parameters that the Inter-Agency Task Force and DOH experts will look into in determining whether an area is qualified for GCQ status.

Indeed, for me, an important parameter is the fatality rate. Today the whole nation has a death rate of 1,300 deaths, which in my view is a miniscule figure if you consider the 100 plus million Filipino population. Let us also consider the reality that most of the poor Filipinos live in squatter communities that need to be revised so that each house would have a few meters distant from one another as it denies any social distancing. I dare all Filipinos seeking for some elective post to make this their campaign promise to revise the housing of their constituents.

This brings me to a news report from The FREEMAN yesterday, which said that Sen. Bong Go pressed for the passage of measures that seek to address homelessness in the country through affordable financing schemes. He cited Senate Bill 203 and SB 1227 that he filed to lessen housing problems in the country “by providing means for Filipinos to have a home of their own, especially displaced families affected by incidents such as fires and disasters.” Sen. Bong Go said, “I’ve visited many fire victims and they need to be able to get back on their feet through low-cost housing programs and development, including the construction of safe and permanent evacuation centers and housing assistance for fire victims.”

Indeed, in the three years into Duterte administration, whenever there was a fire anywhere in the country and especially here in Cebu, Sen. Bong Go is one personality whom you can see condoling with the fire victims. This is why Sen. Go said, “the reason why I filed these bills is because of my aim that there will be no more squatters. I want each Filipino family to have a decent home.”

With this proposed law, let us all hope that Filipinos living in squatter colonies would disappear with homes a few meters from each other. But this is easier said than done. The problem is, many of these people might refuse to move out to transfer to a faraway home. Let’s hope that this would be included in this new housing law.

Meanwhile, going back to the issues in Cebu City, I understand that Sec. Cimatu once again met with hospital owners and representatives, along with the DOH-7 Director Jaime Bernadas, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella and other stakeholders, to get updates on hospital capacity and the current state of the health workers. In that recent meeting, the owners of private hospitals agreed to further expand their bed capacity for COVID-19 as long as the government gives them additional manpower and other support.

Indeed, now Sec. Cimatu has gotten the meat of why our hospitals are always supposedly full. It is due to the serious lack of nurses that we wrote about last December long before the COVID-19 descended upon us. Director Bernadas also mentioned that a newly-hired nurse in the government hospital now gets P28, 000 a month as against only P15, 000 in a privately-owned hospital. It was also revealed that top businessman Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is giving life insurance to 5,000 health workers here with coverage up to P2 million. This really helps a lot!

Meanwhile, Mayor Labella reiterated his promise that the city government would give P10, 000 in incentive to each health worker in private hospitals in the city. This got a cheerful response from private hospitals that welcomed Mayor Labella’s promise, especially in light of the situation that has forced many nurses to either resign or go on unauthorized absences. This was appreciated by Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III, president of Cebu Doctors’ Group of Hospitals, who said that this will definitely increase and boost the morale and stop those resigning steadily.”

Indeed, there is hope for Cebu!

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