MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal government tapped the services of barangay officials and volunteers to help the frontliners in managing the town’s border checkpoints to ensure the strict implementation of community quarantine guidelines to combat the possible spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the subsequent surge in cases in the municipality in the coming weeks.
Mayor Frenzel Ayong requested the barangay officials to deploy their respective volunteers to help frontliners manage the various border checkpoints of the municipality with Buguias, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur and Bauko and Tadian in Mountain Province as part of the ongoing efforts of the municipal government to sustain its efforts at containing the spread of the virus.
“We have to provide the needed support to our frontliners in our border checkpoints so that we can sustain our efforts to contain the spread of the virus in our municipality. We do not want our frontliners to be overwhelmed because of their key role in protecting the health and safety of our people by making sure that there will be no infected entering the municipality for whatever purpose so as not to spark a surge in our existing cases,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
The municipal chief executive stated that each of the barangays will deploy some two to three volunteers in the various checkpoints on a rotation basis to assist the frontliners at the checkpoints for the sustained protection of the health and safety of the people living in the different barangays who had been religiously abiding by the protocols since the implementation of the Luzonwide lockdown.
The mayor pointed out that at this point that the frontliners are exhausted after more than 8 months of enforcing the prescribed rules and regulations, some sectors must step up to help them get back their second wind to sustain efforts in strictly implementing the community quarantine rules.
He claimed that the mandatory 14-day quarantine for people coming from identified high-risk areas remains in full force and effect thus barangay officials should be vigilant on the individuals moving in and out of their areas of jurisdiction to guarantee their compliance to the basic health and safety protocols.
He stipulated that despite the moderate surge in the number of COVID cases in the municipality over the past several days, the situation is still manageable thus the cooperation of the people on the implementation of the community quarantine rules and regulations should remain to avoid possible stress in the local health care system.
Mankayan recorded intermittent increases in the number of COVID cases which made the municipal government decide to empower concerned sectors to implement the established systems to sustain the efforts in controlling the spread of the virus in the municipal. By HENT
