LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Benguet continues to be blessed with various anti-Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) response and numerous assistance from concerned government agencies through the initiative of Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap, who took time out from his hectic schedule to visit the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) and be updated on the additional needs of the health facility, for which he assured health officials and workers that he will personally fund the put up of an additional 40- to 60-bed isolation center within his private property that he previously purchased located in front of the Benguet Agri-Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC).
He admitted that he is also alarmed on the increasing number of confirmed COVID cases provincewide and the congestion caused by such spike in cases to the limited number of isolation beds in the various health facilities and temporary treatment and monitoring units established for the said purpose.
The lawmaker stated he is just waiting for the plans and design of the proposed isolation facility that will be erected within a portion of his private property using his personal resources to increase the existing capacity of isolation units in the province to be able to cater to the isolation requirements of confirmed COVID patients.
According to him, he will personally look for responsible contractors to construct this isolation facility to be completed the soonest.
Congressman Yap explained he will use his personal resources in the put up of the proposed isolation facility because the law does not allow the use of public funds for the construction of public facilities inside private properties, and that he wants the aforesaid project to be completed the soonest because it is an urgent need of COVID patients being required by health authorities to undergo the prescribed isolation period to get well from the said illness.
Congressman Yap asserted it is inherent in the hearts of Igorots to help people in need of assistance and that is what is being done by his office because now is the time to help people heavily impacted by the ongoing pandemic and he is doing this without strings attached.
As an adopted son of Benguet, he also considers himself an Igorot not by blood but by choice because he saw the important virtues in the people that need to be advocated, such as the heart to serve and help those who are in need of assistance during difficult times and that he is simply practicing the same in rendering genuine public service to the people of Benguet and maximizing his time to be with them.
He emphasized that the prevailing difficult times is a time for people to show their concern for those who are in need of assistance and not a time to advance their own personal and political interests as the same runs counter to the culture and traditions of the Igorots to use the sufferings of people just to gain personal aggrandizement. By HENT
