By Dolly Yasa and Glazyl Masculino
BACOLOD City – Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chairman of the city’s Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) against the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), said on Monday that they respect the call of a group of doctors to reimpose the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) on the city due to rising COVID-19 cases.
But Familiaran said the decision to do so would depend on Malacañang, the national IATF, and the Department of Health (DOH).
“It is their opinion. But after placing the city under ECQ, what then?” Familiaran told Daily Guardian here.
He said the city can still afford to supply food to residents for two weeks, but placing the city under ECQ is not the solution.
He said the city will just follow the decision of the national government in case it will revert to ECQ.
But it will have an impact on businesses because people will lose their jobs and businessmen will not be able to pay their taxes.
“It will be a domino effect. After ECQ, then what? COVID-19 will remain, and the movement of people will continue. It’s like a cycle,” he said.
Familiaran said self-discipline is the solution to prevent the spread of the virus.
He also blamed the unchecked entry of Authorized Persons Outside of Residence (APOR) for the surge in the number of COVID cases in the city.
As of Sunday, Bacolod City has 79 cases while Negros Occidental has 43.
“They come and go freely, for all we know they are the carriers of the virus,” Familiaran said.
He also suggested that the national IATF review its policies on APORs because based on his personal view, these persons are carriers of the virus tagged as local cases because they travel from one area to another without being quarantined.
On the other hand Frank Carbon, chief executive officer of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), said that the doctors’ letter should be addressed to the NIATF and not to the president because the members of the task force are the experts in assessing or putting a local government unit under any community quarantine status.
Carbon said that before placing an LGU under ECQ, officials should consider the economic, financial, and labor impacts.
“This is not just about looking into the health issues of COVID-19, this should be analyzed because this is a very complex and complicated problem. If the economy is affected, there will be unemployment, and if people lose their jobs, it will resort to hunger because they have no food to purchase and eat, then it will also affect our peace and order.”
Carbon believed that there is another solution instead of reverting to ECQ.
He, however, said that they will follow the NIATF’s decision.
He said that the business sector now is more on survival mode.
“We are doping everything to survive, to save our company and to continue providing for our employees so they do not lose their jobs. There’s already a community transmission here, it’s very dangerous but we accept that. We are facing a very big storm in a big ocean. It’s more of a survival,” he added.
The online petition of the doctors asked President Rodrigo Duterte to reimpose the ECQ on Bacolod City.
“There has been a rapid spike in the COVID-19 positive cases here in our community, with local transmission reaching its highest in the past few days. We are now the highest in Western Visayas, and there are hundreds of pending results coming in. Some hospitals have declared full COVID-19 capacity. Numerous healthcare workers and frontliners have been admitted or home-quarantined.”
The letter was signed by Dr. Ivy Malata, president of the Philippine Medical Association-Canlaon Medical Society; and Dr. Roberto Puerta, president of the Philippine Medical Society-Negros Occidental Medical Society.
The doctors appealed to the National IATF for an ECQ for at least two weeks “to help us contain the virus, to help the healthcare system recuperate, and to give us time to institute and implement appropriate interventions, especially with the way LSIs locally stranded individuals and OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) are being handled.”
“We are not equipped for a full-blast COVID war, Mr. President. We only have a few hospitals, with limited capacity and equipment. We are just a few steps from being the next epicenter, and we fervently hope that you can help us prevent that from happening. We believe this is the best way by which we can halt or at least slow down the spread of local transmission, at the same time fix the loopholes that we have in our system, that have led to the situation we are experiencing now. We are presently reaching out with our LGU, and we humbly appeal for your approval regarding this.”
The doctor said the two-week ECQ will help contain cases and prevent its spread to a level of community transmission that is more difficult to handle.
The doctors also made the following recommendations:
- Extensive contact tracing. Strengthening of the role of BHERT in overseeing and monitoring patients that should be home quarantined.
- Unified protocols for all healthcare facilities
- Returning LSIs and OFWs. Improve implementation of protocols, especially the coordination between cities to allow time for the receiving city to make arrangements for incoming LSIs. We would like to request for an increase in the number of quarantine facilities, as well as stepdown facilities for recovering COVID patients.
- RT-PCR testing of individuals working on seaports and airports especially those with symptoms. They should submit themselves to mandatory quarantine until results are available.
- Task force deployment. The task force should be deputized and deployed to different areas and establishments to ensure proper wearing of masks, implementation of physical distancing ques, and the minimum medical requirements for new normal. Police visibility is necessary.
- Data pooling of all COVID+ patients in the city and province for possible convalescent plasma intervention
- Strong and consistent implementation of rules and standards for the new normal set by the LGU, including curfews, resumption of liquor ban, no social gatherings; with corresponding fines for citizens and business owners whose establishments are found to have violated COVID-prevention policies.
- Digital COVID-19 surveillance system, with the use of QR codes upon entry to any establishment to determine persons who are supposedly on quarantine.
“We know our city, the culture of our community, and also the limitations of our healthcare system. We are both tired and afraid, yet we will continue to work and serve our people the best way that we can during this turmoil. But we need you to please back us up on this. Rest assured, we are one with you in this battle, even from a distance,” the doctors said.
