LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government designated additional personnel at the vegetable trading post to ensure the strict implementation of the established precautionary measures that will abate the rapid spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the municipality until the lapse of the extended Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine and beyond.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda issued a special order to four personnel of the municipal government to augment the existing work force at the vegetable trading post to guarantee the compliance of the public to the stringent rules and regulations governing the prevailing ECQ following reports on the alleged continuous defiance of many individuals to respect the policies crafted as one of the preventive measures against COVID-19.
Among the duties and responsibilities of the assigned personnel is to monitor the strict implementation of precautionary measures such as physical distancing, mandatory wearing of face masks and gloves in the said facility; issue notice of violation to businesses within the vegetable trading post and private vegetable trading areas without business area; monitor compliance of all stakeholders located at the private vegetable trading centers who entered into a memorandum of agreement with the municipal government to all the agreed terms and conditions stipulated in the agreement; monitor the strict implementation of the terms agreed upon during the meeting last April 15, 2020 between the municipal government and the stakeholders held at the vegetable trading post, and perform other functions as may be required by the municipal mayor or supervisors.
The municipal chief executive reported that the assignment of the additional personnel at the vegetable trading post will be until May 15, 2020 and that the designated municipal administrator will be providing the concerned personnel with the required orientation and schedule at the facility.
Earlier, municipal government ordered the stoppage of the operation of private vegetable trading centers at the height of the ECQ but the same was recently lifted where the stakeholders agreed to significantly reduce their operations in compliance with the strict policy on physical distancing and mandatory wearing of face masks and gloves aside from securing business permits to legitimize their operations.
Mayor Salda reiterated the previous appeal of the municipal government for the public to strictly adhere to the guidelines governing the ECQ to prevent the spread of the deadly virus in the municipality as the said rules had been crafted for the overall benefit of the populace, especially in getting rid of the illness.
Benguet where La Trinidad is the capital town has been included by the national task force for the management of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases as among the 8 high risk areas with extended ECQ until May 15, 2020 due to the surge in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past several days.
La Trinidad accounted for all the 9 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province where 3 individuals were discharged while 6 others are still confined in the different health facilities inside and outside the municipality.
By Hent
Photo by Armando M. bolislis