BACOLOD City – Environment secretary Roy Cimatu will be using the “formula” used by his team in Cebu City as a strategy to bring down the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID) cases in this capital city.
“This is the formula that we adopted in Cebu, bring down the battle to the barangay and let the barangay captains do the rest,” Cimatu said in an interview with the city government’s Public Information Office following his recent visit here.
Cimatu along with Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino and Inter-Agency Task Force-Visayas deputy implementer General Melquiades Feliciano met with city officials led by Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran as a response to the mayor’s urgent appeal for assistance to President Rodrigo Duterte.
To recall, the Environment chief was deployed by Duterte to Cebu in June to oversee measures to curb the soaring COVID-19 cases in the Central Visayas capital.
“We are here to help Bacolod, help the people, help the mayor because [he] sent a letter to the President asking for some assistance, manpower, and other equipment, including how to stop the rising cases in Bacolod,” Cimatu pointed out.
Meanwhile, Dino disclosed that national government has two teams to augment the COVID-19 response in Bacolod.
The initial team – composed of 12 members – arrived on Aug. 28.
“We have a very good plan for Bacolod. The help will be here very, very soon. In fact, meron kaming mga military health workers, military doctors and military nurses who are coming. I think we’ll be bringing two teams,” Dino said.
Feliciano, on the other hand, said he will start focusing on Bacolod City starting Sept. 1.
“We will go back to Cebu, but we will be back on Sept.1, and we will be full-time here in Bacolod and Iloilo. We move to Bacolod, then to Iloilo and vice versa. It will be a daily activity,” he added.
Leonardia, for his part, vowed that the city government will cooperate with the augmentation team and do everything to control the spread of the virus.
Based on the Aug. 27 data of the DOH-6, Bacolod has 884 confirmed COVID-19 infections, 474 of which are active cases./PN
