MANKAYAN, Benguet – Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong lauded the hundreds of health workers and frontliners in the municipality for their sustained passion and dedication to continue risking their lives to help the municipal government contain the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the locality amidst the emerging threat of the new variant.
Ayong recently administered the oath of office of the new set of officers of the Federation of Barangay Health Workers of Mankayan during a simple induction program that was held at the Lepanto Golf Clubhouse in barangay Sapid.
He stated that for over 10 months of the ongoing implementation of various levels of community quarantine to abate the spread of the deadly virus, the health workers and other frontliners had been instrumental in the government’s effort to cascade to the grassroots level the importance of adhering to the prescribed basic health and safety protocols to avoid contracting and spreading the virus in their communities.
The municipal chief executive pointed out that the enormous task of the health workers and frontliners are not yet over and that the worst is yet to come, thus, they should continue to perform their assigned duties and responsibilities to sustain the gains of the municipality in placing under control the COVID situation following the recent surges in the number of cases.
According to him, words are not enough to express the sincerest gratitude of the municipal officials to the supreme sacrifices of the health workers and the frontliners in managing the cases over the past several months that prevented the occurrence of surges that could have compromised the town’s health care system and stressed the frontliners.
The municipal mayor asserted that the supreme sacrifices and dedicated service of the health workers and frontliners could not be quantified thus why the people and officialdom of the municipality are grateful for what they have been doing since the implementation of the Luzonwide lockdown in March 2020.
Ayong claimed that the heroic act of the health workers and the frontliners is worthy of emulation and the same is true for their counterparts in other areas around the world, thus, people should not discriminate against them and their families because they have risked their lives just to ensure that the rest of the population are safe and spared from the deadly virus.
He underscored that despite the meagre benefits granted to the health workers and the frontliners compared to the enormous job being given to them, they are always willing to render services in response to the needs of the people in their areas of jurisdiction for them to be spared from the prevalence of the pandemic that had struck the country and most parts of the world.
Last November and early December, there was a surge in the number of COVID cases in the municipality following the sudden increase in the number of confirmed cases from the mine camp that caused the municipal health care system from being nearly overwhelmed but because of the efforts of health workers and frontliners, the situation was controlled up to date where part of the strategies that were implemented was the mass testing among members of the vulnerable sectors in the locality. By HENT
