At least 20 areas in five villages in Quezon City have been placed under a 14-day ‘special concern lockdown’ starting Wednesday at 5 a.m. due the high number of confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Assistant City Administrator for Operations Alberto Kimpo said the areas were initially selected by the city's health department based on the results of community-based testing conducted by the Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.
The barangays to undergo special concern lockdown were Bahay Toro, Culiat, Sauyo, Batasan Hills and Tatalon.
To date, Bahay Toro has 21 active cases; Culiat, 37; Sauyo, 19; Batasan Hills, 29, and Tatalon, 17.
"Instead of a total lockdown in the entire barangay, we have focused on what particular areas inside the barangay's clustering of COVID-19 cases. It could be a street, a block or a compound," Kimpo said.
"One of the things we are looking at is the high-density population, wherein the proper quarantine protocols could no longer be practiced, and that there is a high possibility of transmission, therefore the area would be needed to be included in the containment. From there, we could concentrate more on community-based testing and quarantine," he added.
He gave the affected residents the assurance that the city government would provide food and other assistance.
Dr. Rolly Cruz, head of the QC-ESU, said they would conduct intensified testing and monitoring in those areas to make sure they are COVID-free after the 14-day quarantine period ends.
"More than 200 members of the QCPD-AFP-SAF contingent will undergo training on the process of implementing quarantine rules and monitoring of confirmed and possible COVID-19 cases,” he said.
Mayor Joy Belmonte reiterated her appeal to citizens in affected areas to fully cooperate in the local government’s effort to combat COVID-19.
The city has a total of 1,597 COVID-19 cases as of May 12, 7 p.m.
In Paranaque, meanwhile, the city government will allocate P200 million for cash assistance to thousands of families in the city after the entire Metro Manila was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine until May 31.
Mayor Edwin Olivarez said aside from the cash assistance coming from the city government, the 130,000 families from the city’s 16 barangays will also receive their respective fifth tranche of food packs and kilos of rice before May 31.
President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the proposal of Metro Manila mayors to extend the ECQ in the metropolis fearing a surge of positive COVID-19 cases if the lockdown is lifted too soon.
Metro Manila, the province of Laguna, and Cebu City will be placed under "modified" enhanced community quarantine from May 16 to May 31, according to Malacanang.
On Saturday, the Metro Manila Council headed by Olivarez recommended that any quarantine measure after May 15 be imposed on the entire region uniformly. Some mayors like Francisco Domagoso of Manila and Joy Belmonte of Quezon City had voted for the megacity to be downgraded to GCQ.
Metro Manila also continues to have the highest number of coronavirus cases among all regions, with over 11,000 cases. Cebu City, however, became the city with the most cases after reporting 1,571 cases on Monday, May 11.
According to Olivarez, households who did not receive cash assistance under the government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP) amid the COVID-19 pandemic will received cash aid from the city government.
The city government finished last Sunday the distribution of the SAP cash assistance to 17,760 families in all 16 barangays, the final deadline set by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Olivarez said middleclass families, who are living in the villages and subdivisions, will also accept their second tranche of 10 kilos of rice in the coming last week of the extended ECQ in the city.
He added he was assured by city treasurer Anthony Pulmano that they have enough funds and cash allocations for city projects, employees’ salaries and cash in the bank despite the pandemic.
Lawyer Melanie Malaya, chief of the Business Permit and Licensing Office and in-charge of the SAP distribution, claimed that several local government units in country failed to distribute the SAP cash aid up to this time because of several interviews, cross-matching, failure to answer form properly and falsification of SAP forms.
Because of the “hurtful” experience in the first tranche of SAP cash aid distribution, the city government this time will distribute the city cash aid to some 25,000 families using a debit card from the Philippine National Bank, according to Malaya.
She announced that they already ordered 110,000 pieces of ATM cards from the PNB which will be distributed city-wide to qualified families starting next week.
The ATM cards will be distributed by a composite team from the city social welfare and development office, treasurer’s office, BPLO and the Mayor’s office.
As of now, Malaya said, they are considering giving P4,000 cash aid that will benefit 50,000 families and or P8,000 cash subsidy which will cover up to 25,000 households in the city.
She added that qualified beneficiaries will receive their DSWD and city cash assistance in their ATMs before the month of May ends.
Meanwhile, the City of San Juan City expressed its gratitude to the Department of Health for its timely and continuous assistance in the fight against COVID-19
In a meeting with the Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, San Juan City Mayor Francisco Javier M. Zamora thanked the DOH for its timely and continuous assistance to the city since the outset of the COVID-19 crisis.
“Maraming salamat po sa DOH. Without DOH, mahihirapan ho [talaga kami], lalo na noong unang bugso ng COVID-19,” said Mayor Zamora recalling how the Department assisted them in responding to the very first COVID-19 case in the city.
According to the local chief, the city has improved its response strategies in containing local community transmission. He added that innovations such as the use of COVID-19 online tracker, the strict implementation of the enhanced community quarantine, and close coordination with the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams, along with the cooperation of San Juan City residents, made their response more efficient.
“Nag-spike ang number of cases nung simula, pero eventually, nahabol naman natin,” said Mayor Zamora, referring to the peak of cases in San Juan City, recording almost 14 cases daily until recently when the city recorded an average of one to zero COVID-19 case per day.
San Juan Medical Center, a Level 1 facility, has been equipped for COVID-19, with 40 beds in its two wards (infectious and non-infectious), 10 beds in its intensive care unit, and 10 ventilators, 5 of which are currently in use.
The city has also transformed the Barangay Corazon de Jesus covered court into a swabbing center which has swabbed 3,895 individuals to date. It also has a Kalinga Center where it houses suspect and probable cases pending the results of their RT-PCR tests.
While the city currently has a 14% mortality rate, the positivity rate of 1.9% and doubling time of 7 to 10 days are welcome developments indicating that the city is on the right track.
In another development, Taguig City Mayor Lino Cayetano of Taguig City was cited as one of the top five local chief executives in Metro Manila who scored high approval ratings from their constituents.
Cayetano got 68 percent rating given by Taguig residents interviewed for the COVID-19 Online Panel Survey of PUBLiCUS Asia in partnership with Kantar from May 5 to 8.
Taguig residents were among the 1,000 Metro Manila residents aged 18 to 70 survey respondents, who were asked to indicate their level of approval or disapproval with the manner in which their mayors and city governments were responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apart from Cayetano, mayors Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela, Vico Sotto of Pasig, Isko Moreno of Manila and Marcy Teodoro of Marikina also landed in the top five.
According to the results of the survey, 22.22 percent strongly approved of Cayetano’s performance, while 46.03 percent expressed approval.
Those who neither approved nor disapproved, and disapproved were at 14.29 percent each, while those who strongly disapproved were at a meager 3.17 percent.
“The best case practices employed by these high-performing local chief executives and city governments should be studied and emulated by other LGUs and government institutions working to beat Covid-19,” PUBLiCUS executive director and spokesperson Aureli Sinsuat said.
Taguig has been pro-active in addressing the Covid-19 crisis as it is among the first local government units in the National Capital Region to design an approach to contain the sickness since it started spreading by January.
Among others, it disseminated important information on the infection and began stocking up on protective gear for front line workers and vulnerable populations.
Beginning March, it partnered with the private sector in containment and contact tracing efforts, and even in sterilizing workplaces.
It also distributed disinfectants and sprayers to barangays for community-based sanitation efforts.
Embracing the new normal, it rolled out Web-based services in consultation and education. In healthcare, patients can contact specialists in medical and mental health concerns through Telemedicine.
Also, since mid-April, the city has offered Taguig Online Resources and Community Hub, which offers online learning platforms for students, teachers, businessmen and senior citizens, among others.
Taguig City was also aggressive in providing humanitarian and protective assistance. It has distributed “stay-at-home” food packs and hygiene kits to households, and anti-Covid kits to the elderly and persons with disabilities.
It was also among the very first local government units to sign a memorandum of agreement with the national government for the Social Amelioration Program, which is supplemented with its very own Taguig Amelioration Program.
Right around the same time, it also rolled out financial assistance programs for transport workers and city scholars; and increases in salaries and allowances for front line workers.
The medical aspect also got due focus. Taguig prepared hospitals and other facilities for containment and treatment.
It also addressed the clamor for mass testing with its Systematic Mass Approach to Responsible Testing, which features hospital testing, house-to-house testing, community-based testing through health centers and even drive-thru testing.