DPWH to turn over 32-room isolation facility to Bacolod

BACOLOD City – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will turn over the newly-constructed 32-room Quarantine and Isolation Facility at Brgy. Alijis to the Bacolod City government today, Oct 30, 2020.

The Bacolod Public Information Office said the facility was built by the DPWH at what used to be the plant nursery of the City Agriculture Office in Barangay Alijis to support Bacolod’s need for additional healthcare facilities for asymptomatic and mild COVID cases.

City Administrator Em Ang said the project is being supervised by the DPWH Task Force to Facilitate Augmentation of National and Local Health Facilities headed by DPWH Undersecretary Emil Sadain and assisted by DPWH-6 regional director Leah Delfinado.

Ang said that in September, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, the “chief isolation czar” of the National IATF, announced that they are ramping up construction of healthcare facilities to support urgent needs created by the spike of COVID-19 cases in Bacolod City that month.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia said, “We are deeply grateful to DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, Undersecretary Emil Sadain, and regional director Leah Delfinado for providing Bacolod with these facilities for free. This will save us a lot of local funds that we can use for other COVID-response expenditures.”

“But beyond that, we can accommodate in these facilities more asymptomatic or mild positive cases that come up as we intensify our contact tracing efforts, and free up the hospitals to take care of the moderate and critical cases,” the mayor said.

The facility has a comfort room in each of the 32 rooms, with hot-and-cold shower, and air-conditioning system; 2 female and 2 male rest quarters for medical and service personnel, 2 generator sets, 2 utility rooms, and 2 nurses’ stations.0

The city will be in-charge of the water, electricity and the maintenance of the facility.

Leonardia has also written Secretary Villar asking for another 32 rooms with similar configurations as the one scheduled for turnover this October 30, and also to be constructed at the same venue because there is still space available for it there.

During the ceremonial contract signing between Bacolod City and the DPWH last September 9 at the L’Fisher Hotel, Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force on COVID-19, who witnessed the signing, announced that “109 COVID facilities will be built by the DPWH for Bacolod, upon the request of Mayor Bing (Leonardia).”

The quarantine/isolation facility is part of this  assistance package for COVID facilities in Bacolod City that is estimated to cost the DPWH around P42.5 million.

On Monday, Leonardia and other city officials inspected the P25-million facility.

Joining the inspection were Councilor Renecito Novero, chair of the Quarantine Centers Action Team; Acting City Engineer Aladino Agbones, Engr. Xenia Locsin and Engr. Loben Rafael Ceballos, both of the City Engineer’s Office; and DPWH contractor Rico Abeto.