Bacolod reverts to MECQ

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

 

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) approved on Monday the recommendation to place Bacolod City under the more restrictive Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) effective Sept 8-30, 2020.

The recommendation is contained in Resolution No. 69-A Series of 2020 dated Sept 7 and was approved by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.

The proposal is due to the rising COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City.

On Monday, Bacolod City accounted for 58 of the 120 new COVID cases in Western Visayas, mostly local transmission cases.

The city also topped the region in cumulative cases with 1,694 including 1,151 actives cases, 516 recoveries, and 27 deaths.

The entire region now has 6,153 cases (3,029 active cases, 3,034 recoveries, and 90 deaths).

National COVID-19 Task Force chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said they support moves to place Bacolod City under the MECQ due to the rising number of infections.

A report by CNN Philippines quoted Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. as saying in a press briefing Monday that they will support the implementation of MECQ in Bacolod.

Galvez said this is also the recommendation of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.

“If Sec. Año will raise that to the IATF (meeting) today (Monday), we will support it,” he said, according to the CNN PHL report.

The IATF or Interagency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases handles the policies on the country’s response to the pandemic.

He added that they will also be visiting the city on Wednesday to assess the overall situation.

In late-August, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia asked for assistance from the government due to reports that there were hospitals in the city that refused to admit new COVID-19 patients, saying that they have already reached full capacity or they lack manpower.

This was immediately responded to with the deployment of Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu together Galvez, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, and Retired Major General Mel Feliciano, the IATF deputy chief implementor in Cebu who will be helping the city in determining what actions should be done to control the spread of the virus.

Bacolod City, Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued Executive Order No. 59 creating an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Task Force that will “synchronize and harmonize” all data and activities geared towards containing the spread of COVID-19.

The EOC was a recommendation of IATF-Visayas Chief Implementer Melquiades Feliciano.

Under EO No. 59, the EOC Task Force is commissioned to perform two main tasks:

(1) To closely supervise and monitor the overall operations and actions of the EOC before, during, and after, by defining clear objectives and plans, and providing precise insights towards COVID interventions;

(2) To establish an advisory group to provide policy and guidance to the EOC and ensure the crafting of its terms of reference.

The EOC is based at the MassKara Hall of the Bacolod City Government Center and will operate on a 24/7 basis.

“Synchronization and harmonization will be difficult without a centralized Emergency Operations Center. If all activities are synchronized, all undertakings will be successful,” Feliciano said.

The executive order was prompted by the recent spike of local transmissions in Bacolod City.

According to Leonardia, the increasing number of cases has “imperiled” the local healthcare system.

“[The healthcare system] can now hardly accommodate more patients seeking emergency treatment or hospital admission for COVID-19 symptoms, either because of full occupancy of COVID-bed capacity or for lack of medical personnel to attend to said patients,” part of the executive order said.

Feliciano came to Bacolod to augment the City Government’s response against COVID-19 after Leonardia wrote President Rodrigo Duterte urgently appealing for help to curb the spread of the deadly disease.

Feliciano divides his time between Bacolod and Iloilo cities and criss-crosses between them on a daily basis.

Aside from Feliciano, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu had also visited the City for the same mission to help Bacolod, under instructions of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The national officials have advised the city to implement a similar and successful strategy used in Cebu City to combat COVID-19 by initially organizing an EOC which shall undertake all the planning, operations, and coordination requirements. (With reports from CNN PHL and Bacolod PIO)