LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government ordered the resumption of the implementation of the town’s number coding scheme in view of the alarming number of motor vehicles on the road that is reportedly straining of the human and logistical resources of the La Trinidad Municipal Police Station.
Mayor Romeo k. Salda issued Executive Order No. 20, series of 2020 stating that exemptions to the number coding scheme will be limited to municipal and barangay vehicles, health workers, media and municipal workers who are part of the skeleton work force and owners of vehicles who go out on their scheduled market day when it happens to fall on their coding day.
He added that a municipal wide 24-hour liquor ban will be in effect in the locality until April 30, 2020 when the extended Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine will be either extended or partially lifted.
The municipal chief executive revealed that all concerned government agencies and local governments in Luzon have been directed to continue implementing existing guidelines on the extended enhanced community quarantine to prevent the possible spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID) 2019 in the country that poses a serious threat to the health of the people living in the communities.
Prior to the extension of the enhanced community quarantine and in view of the continuing policies crafted for the purpose, the municipal government issued several executive issuances prescribing guidelines, window periods, and all other issuances to maintain order and stability in the community.
Further, he noted that all the 3 confirmed COVID cases in the municipality recovered after thus the need for residents to be more vigilant in preventing the possible recurrence caused by their failure to adhere to the policy on physical distancing and staying at home when they have nothing important to do outside.
On March 9, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation No. 922 that placed the entire country under a state of public health emergency because of the sudden surge in the number of confirmed COVID cases and subsequently, he issued Proclamation No. 929 that placed Luzon under a state of calamity to allow local government units to access available local funds as assistance to vulnerable and marginalized sectors of their communities.
Republic Act (RA) 11469, or the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act, provides the interventions to be extended by the government to the heavily impacted sectors for them to cope up with the difficult situations created by the strict implementation of guidelines under the Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine.
La Trinidad, being the capital of Benguet, is the center of trade and commerce in the municipality as it plays host to the municipal government-run vegetable trading post, the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC) and the different private vegetable trading areas employing thousands of people from different places inside and outside the locality.
By HENT
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis