Mayor touts cooperation as key to fighting COVID-19

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas responded to all the attention surrounding the city’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), saying that Ilonggos are the ones who deserved the credit.

The city has been earning plaudits from netizens all over the country for its efforts in containing the virus while sustaining its residents with minimal help from the national government.

Some netizens even dubbed Iloilo as the ‘Republic of Iloilo’ and comparing the city to the fictitious nation of Wakanda from Marvel’s Black Panther franchise.

Mayor Treñas has also been receiving praises from netizens for his leadership amid the public health crisis caused by COVID-19.

The mayor said that he is aware of this and that all Ilonggos should be proud and that they also deserve to be included in this applause.

“I think they’re touting Iloilo City as Wakanda. I think all the Ilonggos should be proud. The nation is admiring the efforts of Iloilo City and it only happened that I am the mayor right now. But what they are applauding is the Ilonggos and they should never forget that, and when it’s said that Iloilo and the Ilonggos are being applauded, everyone is included,” he said.

He also said that the cooperation of Ilonggos is what keeps the number of apprehended curfew violators low.

“There are people we apprehend for curfew violation. Well, there are, but as much as possible, we see that our statistics are still low, compared to that of Bacolod, many are being taken for curfew,” he said.

 

EAGERNESS

Treñas also gave credit to the personnel of the Iloilo City Government as their eagerness is one of the reasons for the city’s ongoing success.

“One of our biggest advantages is that people are eager to work on necessities. Our personnel at the Jaro Gym, our City Engineer, our City Health Office, they all keep going. Our disaster team is also ready and prepared. We are prepared,” he said.

 

RELATIONSHIPS

Another reason that the mayor cited is the relationship he maintained with Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. and other governors in the region.

“Another good thing is that we have a good relationship with Governor Defensor because we coordinate things. If we have problems we face regarding the checkpoints, I can easily reach him. Helping each other is easy. It is also easy to communicate with [Aklan] Governor Miraflores, [Capiz] Governor Contreras and [Guimaras] Governor Gumarin. Governor Cadiao is a bit difficult because at times she just decides on her own,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of communicating with other local governments in the region.

“We must communicate with each other, because if we don’t, I’ll tell you, to a certain extent, we’re very isolated here. Panay is a small island, far from [the National Capital Region]. NCR is harder to manage because there is more to feed and more to reprimand. We are small here, so it’s easier to manage but at the same time, we are lucky that we are isolated from NCR, we have to work hand-in-hand. We can’t do it in Iloilo City alone,” he said.

He also stresses the importance of the private sector at this time.

“We also thank our private sector. If everything was just that of the City Government, we couldn’t do it, that’s why we seek the help of the private sector,” he said.

 

BEST PRACTICES

Treñas was one of the reactors of the Expert Dialogue on Resilience, Public Health, and Human Security, an online conference that was held April 3, 2020.

Representing local government units, the mayor said that they discussed the best practices of the city, which he said was also because of the initiatives of the Ilonggos.

“We discussed best practices. They said Iloilo has best practices. We have best practices because of the Ilonggos and their initiatives. Our Ilonggos who contribute, even as I sit here, keep coming to the Jaro Gym. We have very strong bayanihan, because without us asking for support from our big businessmen, and even our casual employees give us at least P500.” he said.

He also shared some of his takeaways from the conference.

“The teleconference is really to understand the problem of COVID-19 because we understand that the spread is very rapid. It was only then that it went out of China. When we were celebrating [the Dinagyang Festival], it was just emerging and suddenly it burst. We have to understand this, we do not know how long this will take, and we also do not know how this affects our economy. We already know all businesses closed, except for essential establishments such as food, medicine, and even hardware stores. It’s a very fast phenomenon and we don’t know how to exactly respond to it,” he said.

 

DIFFICULTIES FOR LGUs

The mayor said that in his years of experience in public service, he has never encountered a problem similar to COVID-19 and added that this is another problem local governments are currently facing.

“Another difficulty is for the LGU. I’ve gotten old with public service, being a Councilor in 1986, serving three terms as Mayor and three terms as Congressman, and I haven’t faced a problem this big. We’ve faced floods. Floods are time-bound because we know that they’ll be gone tomorrow and after that, we’ll clean the city and provide relief. We’ve faced fire, and after that, we provide relief and rebuild houses. But for this, we don’t know how long this will take. For local chief executives, it’s very important that we know what other LGUs do so we learn from their experience also,” he said.

He said that LGUs should also start preparing for the worst.

“We know that we are only until April 14. If you’ll ask me, I just want it to be until tomorrow. But what we are facing, we do not know how long this will last, and if this will last longer then our LGUs should already start thinking what to do next. We have already required wearing masks for everyone. This is a continuing learning process that every day we learn, but we have no choice. We have to go on,” he said.