One year and three months since President Rodrigo Duterte imposed “quarantine” in the country to contain COVID-19, Las Pinas City has effectively put up a “a steady fight” to win the battle against the current health crisis.
Through the collective efforts and systematic approach launched by its local and national officials, the city has been coping up well with the coronavirus and its variants, according to Senator Cynthia Villar.
To date, Las Piñas has also started giving jabs to essential workers in city who belong to the A4 priority list in adherence to the national government’s protocols.
The following initiatives have been implemented in Las Piñas to address the COVID-19 pandemic, return to normalcy and reinvigorate the economy.
They are the RT-PCR testing, Contact tracing, quarantinefacilities, increased in Bed Capacity at Las Piñas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center (LPGHSTC), modular hospital, vaccination rollout, and house and lot raffle for vaccinated adult.
Villar said they exerted earnest efforts since March 2020 to capacitate the LPGHSTC to operate its own COVID-19 testing laboratory.
“This would help in the government ramp up COVID-19 testing, particularly for the residents of Las Piñas and others in the south of Metro Manila, “ she said.
Intensified contact tracing, she said, continuous in Las Piñas to limit the spread of COVID among its residents.
This began since the initial stage of the pandemic in March 2020 and continuous until this date.
To support the government’s capacity and responsiveness to the needs of COVID-19 patients, DPWH Sec. Mark Villar constructed a 27 container vans-turned 96- bed quarantine/isolation facility for Las Pinas.
Sen. Villar noted that the new quarantine facility helped augment the existing healthcare facilities in Las Piñas.
She said this was a huge help in controlling the spread of Covid-19 affected persons in the city.
Three buildings built by the Villar family were also donated for the hospital extension facilities, temporary housing for healthcare workers and/or quarantine facility.
The said buildings are the Las Piñas Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines (VMLP) and the Provincial Board Members’ League (PBML) buildings – all located in Barangay Daniel Fajardo, Las Pinas City.
Meanwhile, LPGHSTC increased its bed capacity from 200 to 500 beds with P644M budget through the legislation authored by Sen. Villar in the Senate and Rep. Camille Villar in the House of Representatives.
The Legislation became a law in November 2020 through R.A. 11497.
The increase in bed capacity commensurate the upgrade in professional health care services and facilities that can accommodate more patients and provide necessary hospital services.