The Quezon City government on Wednesday ordered the deployment of more safety and emergency personnel to cooperate with the Quezon City Police District to ensure an orderly and safe observation of the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
“We want to reassure the public that we are prepared and that there are emergency response teams available,” Acting Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
“There is going to be a lot of police visibility. We also want to inform the public that barangay watchmen and traffic enforcers have been recruited deployed to address traffic issues,” she added.
Belmonte tasked the Department of Public Order and Safety to ensure the smooth flow of traffic around the city, especially in areas surrounding major cemeteries.
The Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council is also on guard for any possible medical and other emergencies during the observance of Undas.
Belmonte urged residents to call up 122 to directly inform authorities for emergency cases.
A medical station has been positioned at the Araneta, Cubao bus terminal area, while the staging areas have been set up along Mindanao Avenue corner Quirino Highway, inside Himlayang Pilipino Memorial Park, and on A. Bonifacio Avenue near Barangay Paang Bundok.
Meanwhile, health and human rights groups on Wednesday urged the Quezon City government to take the necessary steps in giving better access to health services for the vulnerable sector.
At a legislative forum organized by the Medical Action Group, its executive director Edeliza Hernandez said health rights encompass all segments of society, including the vulnerable groups, and that it is the responsibility of the local government unit to make health-care services easily available “and in good quality.”
“After all, health right is a human right,” she stressed.
Hernandez said the city’s senior citizens, persons with disability, women and children’s groups have backed the passage of three measures at the city council—the profiling and registration of PWDs, establishment of an out-patient and diagnostic medical center for the elderly, and mandatory hiring of more doctors in barangay health-care centers.
Despite there have been national laws protecting persons with disability, she lamented that many of them still remained unaccounted for, thus depriving them of their rights and privileges.
Many of the city’s senior citizens, especially the poor ones, still have to foot the financial burden of hospitalization and maintenance of their medicine, she said, adding the city has 35 doctors only for 142 barangays.
“Not to mention, that many city hospitals are still ill-equipped and understaffed,” Hernandez said.
Joselito Conejero, a lawyer from the Office of the Vice Mayor, said they hope to address the concerns of the PWDs and elderly in the next city administration.
“Give us a chance,” Conejero told the forum.
“We should be keen in choosing our candidates. We should be a wise voter. While the vice mayor is telling us to give her a chance, let us also look at the other candidates. Always, use your discernment,” Hernandez said.