MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government appealed to residents to understand the reason behind the implementation of the prescribed stringent community quarantine regulations because what is being protected is their health and safety and not for any other purpose.
Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong stated that the people should not misinterpret the wisdom behind the imposition of the negative swab test results among members of the vulnerable sectors before they can transact business with the concerned offices of the municipal government to ensure that both the transacting individual and the personnel handling the said activity will not contract the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and subsequently spread the same not only in their homes but also with their close contacts.
He said that the prediction of health authorities on the projected surge in COVID cases after the Yuletide season due to the merrymaking and gatherings is now being happening in most parts of the country thus the municipal governments are allowed to impose applicable community quarantine regulations to contain the spread of the virus amidst the emerging threat of the new variant.
The municipal chief executive disclosed that it is unfortunate that there are still negative remarks being received by his office on the imposition of the requirement that vendors and business owners processing the renewal of their permits should first preset their negative swab test results before being issued their documents as the same is aimed at detecting probable and suspected cases for them to be immediately isolated to prevent them from spreading the virus.
“We are not imposing such requirements for the sake of imposing them or just to add up to the burden of our constituents but it is for the protection of the health and safety of everyone in the municipality. We believe that prevention is still better than cure that is why we are trying to crack just to come up with solutions to abate the spread of the virus,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
The mayor stipulated that in Baguio City and the capital town of La Trinidad, were included as among the beneficiaries of a series of mass testing activities over the past several months, thus, the concerned local governments were able to ensure that their vendors were free from the virus before being allowed to deal with their clients in the different public markets.
He urged the residents to be open-minded in the enforcement of updated regulations from the municipal government and the municipal inter-agency task force for the management of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases to spare people from the deadly virus and spreading the same that would be detrimental to the town’s existing health care system and be stressful to the limited number of frontliners once there will be sudden surges in the number of COVID cases due to complacency.
Previously, Mankayan was included as one of the high risk areas following the sudden surge of COVID cases in the Lepanto mine camp in late November and early December where there was a reported 59 percent increase in cases but the same was eventually controlled due to the solid partnership between the government and the private sectors.
By HENT
