BAGUIO CITY – The city legislative body approved a resolution urging all barangay officials and personnel in the city’s 128 barangays to conduct weekly environmental cleaning or decontamination of roads, streets, pedestrian pathways, sidewalks and railings within their areas of jurisdiction as a preventive measure against the dreaded Corona virus Disease (COVID) 2019.
The resolution authored by all members of the city legislative body states that previous studies show that COVID-19 survive to up to 72 hours on hard and shinny surfaces such as plastic, stainless steel, and glass while it survives for up to 24 hours on porous surfaces such as cardboard and concrete, and in line with the aforesaid scenarios, barangay officials and personnel should also adopt various ways and means in conformity with the standing policy of the city on environmental preservation and protection.
The resolution notes one of the important interventions that could be undertaken by barangay officials and personnel is the regular decontamination of roads, streets, pedestrian pathways, and railings within their barangays, to prevent the virus from thriving in their communities which could result to the rapid spread of the deadly virus.
The resolution suggests that the regular cleanup of public places in the areas of jurisdiction of barangays should be done on a weekly basis to help prevent and suppress the spread of the contagious virus in the city and ultimately and significantly contribute to the efforts of the health sector to flatten the curve of the COVID infection in the country.
Section 15, Article 2 of the 1987 Constitution provides that the State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.
Further, Section 16 of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code states that every local government unit shall exercise the powers expressly granted, those necessarily implied therefrom, as well as powers necessary, appropriate, or incidental for its efficient and effective governance, and those which are essential to the promotion of the general welfare. Within their respective territorial jurisdictions, local government units shall ensure and support among other things the preservation and enrichment of culture, promote health and safety, enhance the right of the people to a balanced ecology, encourage and support the development of appropriate and self-reliant scientific technological capabilities, improve public morals, enhance economic prosperity and social justice, promote full employment among their residents, maintain peace and order and preserve the comfort and convenience of their inhabitants.
Earlier, President Rodrigo R. Duterte placed the entire Luzon under enhanced community quarantine and subsequently declared a state of calamity in the country to allow local governments to access their available funds to assist their constituents while the national government will be doing its best to ensure that the Filipinos to survive the present crisis.
In 1995, Baguio City adjudged as a Hall of Fame awardee in the cleanest and greenest highly urbanized city in the country because of the active involvement of barangay officials and personnel in the conduct of massive cleanup operations citywide to sustain the cleanliness and greenery of the city that served as its identity through the years amidst the rapidly increasing population.
By Dexter A. See