By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City- Inter-Agency Task Force Visayas chief implementer Melquaides Feliciano and his wife Mia were adopted by this city for their help in the fight against COVID-19.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia conferred on Melquaides, who oversees the COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and his wife Mia, a nurse consultant of EOC, a copy of Executive Order No. 69 series of 2020 declaring them as the first “Adopted Couple of Bacolod City” in its 82 years of cityhood.
The conferment was held during the testimonial dinner and Appreciation Night for the Felicianos and the OPAPP Team at the Government Center Saturday.
“The least we could do is to recognize you as one of us and you will be our adopted couple until another Mel and Mia Feliciano will come to us. You will be the first adopted couple of Bacolod,” Leonardia said in his speech during the ceremony.
The Feliciano couple is credited for the establishment of the EOC in this city headed by Feliciano that slowed down significantly the spread of COVID-19.
“Can you all imagine, if wala na di sila nag abot. Of course, we would try the best we can. Then I would not know what would happen. Pero sila pag abot nila may interpretasyon na sila, may track record,” Leonardia said.
“Thankfully, the success story of Ma’am Mia and Gen. Mel in Cebu, the structure that they made, and the principle they applied tell us that sila ni ang kinahanglan e deploy sa bilog nga Pilipinas. Isa man lang sila pero diri, sila ang gin-padala ni Pres. Duterte.”
Leonardia further said “If you come to think about it. This is a matter of life and death for us. That is how important this is to us.”
“We all know the facts and figures. In August, we were recording 39 a day, September was worse, but October 21, 2020 we had 23. If we compare the number from September to 23, that’s a big difference, mga ¼ na lang. The cases exponentially increase but if we talk about the active cases, there was a time when we had 1,300, even more.”
On Friday Bacolod only has 253 active cases.
“If you go by facts and figures, definitely it’s so big. The thing speaks for itself. The figures will speak for itself,” Leonardia added.
Feliciano said “the people of EOC are struck with a virus. It’s a virus of trust and confidence.”
He recalled that when they first came in, “we did not know anybody; I noticed and observed the tension of everyone, probably thinking ‘What would this couple do here? How will they do it? Will it be the militarization of EOC?’ That part was guided by the principle of ‘Let’s do the right thing’ and along the way; probably we can see the real intent of what we want to share. Probably, everyone realized the real intent,” Feliciano said.
He said the EOC is institutionalized with all the systems working effectively.
“The most important is the relationship that we have established – we will forever cherish this. We are now Bacolodnons,” Feliciano said.
