BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia of this city emphasized anew the importance
of retaining the authority of local government units (LGUs) in imposing their health protocols on arriving locally stranded individuals (LSIs) amid the continuing threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Leonardia, national president of the League of Cities of the Philippines, raised the concern during Monday’s virtual meeting of top officers of the Union of the Local Authorities of the Philippines with Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the country’s National Policy Against COVID-19, and concerned Cabinet officials, including Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
“It’s all about coordination,” Leonardia said after the meeting discussed the protocols of managing the arrival of LSIs in their respective cities, municipalities and provinces.
The mayor supported the suggestion of the LGUs to coordinate with both the regional and national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases for efficiency and accessibility.
In this city, Section 2 of Executive Order 44, series of 2020, provides that all LSIs arriving from Manila, Cebu and other high-risk areas would be required to submit to a mandatory reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test administered by licensed health personnel of the City Health Office at the soonest possible time upon arrival.
All LSIs will then be endorsed to their respective village chiefs or Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams.
The LSIS can either undergo quarantine in their homes or in the city-designated facility until their RT-PCR test results come out negative.
As of Monday afternoon, this city had 286 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including seven deaths. (With a report from PNA/PN)
