‘DON’T PANIC, BE CAREFUL’: Reversal to ECQ is national IATF’s call, Bacolod mayor says

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – The Bacolod City government is preparing a COVID situationer to be submitted to the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (RIATF) against the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) and the national IATF in response to the call of doctors’ to revert the city to Enhanced Community Quarantine.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the City Health Office and City Administrator Em Ang are preparing the situationer.

Earlier, the Philippine Medical Association and the Philippine Medical Society here asked President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to place Bacolod under ECQ for two weeks due to the surge in the number of COVID cases.

Leonardia said the national IATF will assess and decide on the matter.

“We assure you that we are doing our best to contain this. It is not time to panic but it is time to be very, very careful,” Leonardia said.

The appeal of the Bacolod medical community was discussed with other city officials in a virtual meeting with Department of Health (DOH) regional director Dr. Marlyn Convocar.

Also in the dialogue were Office of the Civil Defense regional director Jose Roberto Nuñez, Department of the Interior and Local Government regional director Juan Jovian Ingeniero, and Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson.

The Bacolod City Government was represented by Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who chairs the local IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force); Councilor Cindy Rojas, who chairs the Action Team on Returning Residents; City Administrator Em Ang, Secretary to the Mayor Atty. Edward Joseph Cuansing, Executive Assistant George Zulueta, and IATF spokesperson Dr. Grace Tan.

Also joining the online talks were select medical doctors, businessmen, and representatives of the Bacolod City Health Office, Bacolod City DRRMO, and Iloilo City DRRMO.

On July 20, Canlaon Medical Society president Dr. Ma. Ivy Malata and Negros Occidental Medical Society president Dr. Robert Puerta wrote to Leonardia to express their alarm on the recent spike of COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental due to local transmissions.

They recommended that Bacolod be placed under ECQ for at least two weeks again to limit the movement of people as a means to contain the virus and prevent its spread to a level of high community transmission, which would be, according to them, more difficult to handle.

Leonardia and other city officials then held a teleconference with the officers of these two medical associations on July 25.

During the virtual meeting today on July 27, Nuñez discussed the seven data requirements that an LGU must submit to the National IATF Screening and Validation Committee in order for it to fast-track the decision-making on the LGU’s requested classification of community quarantine.

The National IATF Screening and Validation Committee is headed by DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III.

Nuñez explained that once the required data is submitted, the regional IATF will assess and recommend to the National IATF the prospective quarantine status for any LGU.

At its level, Bacolod has no more authority to independently declare its own quarantine status.

City Administrator Em Ang was tasked to submit by July 28 the required data to the Regional IATF so that the recommendation of the Bacolod medical community can be properly evaluated.

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said that in a meeting Monday afternoon with DOH Western Visayas Center for Health Development, Ingeniero enumerated the requisites that should serve as guidelines for LGUs should they request with the IATF for a change of quarantine category.

“With that, Bacolod City will need to satisfy all requisites before any appeal can be considered. The seven requisites will be sent to us by the IATF,” Lacson said.