MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government praised the residents for strictly complying with the stringent health protocols in the conduct of their regular daily exercises to keep themselves healthy during the implementation of the general community quarantine (GCQ) and the modified GCQ.
Mayor Frenzel Ayong disclosed that based on his personal assessment on the conduct of daily exercises of the residents in public places in the municipality, people are now slowly internalizing the true essence of the new normal situation that is confronting the society.
He claimed residents doing daily exercises ensure they are back in their homes by 9 am in line with the guidelines issued by the municipal inter-agency task force when the conduct of exercises in open spaces in the municipality were allowed.
“We have to provide a space for our residents to do their daily exercises after being compelled to sty home for over two months. We want our people to feel that they are part of the gradual recovery of the municipality from the heavy impact of the community quarantine that is why they are allowed to do their regular exercises in open public spaces in strict adherence to physical distancing and the mandatory wearing of face masks,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
Earlier, the municipal government allowed residents to do their daily exercises in open public places as part of the efforts to prevent them from suffering from anxiety to prevent untoward incidents that will compromise their safety.
According to him, there had been reported attempted suicide incidents in some of the barangays during the ECQ implementation due to alleged anxiety thus the need for concerned government agencies and the municipal government to implement programs, projects and activities that will prevent the residents from being confined in their homes for a long period of time.
He explained it is enlightening to see a combination of senior citizens and youngsters who come out of their residences early in the morning and do regular routine exercises as part of their being slowly being brought back to mainstream society.
Barangay officials and members of the different barangay health emergency response teams (BHERTs) are tasked by the municipal government to closely monitor the compliance of the residents who are going out of their residences to do their regular exercises daily, especially to the health protocols, and to ensure that they are in their homes by 9 am.
The municipal chief executive expressed his gratitude to the residents for their utmost cooperation to the stringent community quarantine rules and regulations and to the barangay officials and the BHERTs members for ensuring that the daily exercises being done in public places are in order and compliant to the policy on physical distancing and the wearing of face masks.
He underscored that with the residents cooperation on observing the guidelines, the rapid spread of the deadly virus could be prevented and that the same practice should be replicated in other areas to sustain the status of most of the province as COVID-free.
By Hent