ILOILO – Impractical. This was how the Garins, the political kingpins in the 1st District, described the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6’s decision to classify as persons under monitoring (PUMs) all of Guimbal town’s residents.
The more practicable thing to do, according to Vice Gov. Christine Garin who was formerly a mayor of Guimbal, was to consider as PUMs only the residents of the barangay where Guimbal’s two confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hailed.
“Kon practicability ang hambalan, ang mga barangays sang Guimbal layu-anay ang distansya. Kon may PUMs kita that’s understandable. But tani kon diin nga barangay lang ang (COVID-19) case, not the whole town,” said Garin yesterday.
The first Guimbal resident – a 59-year-old male – to test positive for COVID-19 and became Region 6’s Patient No. 2 apparently infected his househelp, a 51-year-old woman (now the region’s Patient No. 18).
Garin wondered if the DOH guidelines on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic include making all residents of a town PUMs if local disease transmission has been confirmed.
“Kon PUMs ang tanan nga taga-Guimbal, indi na sila ka gwa. Paano sila makabakal bulong, pagkaon,” asked Garin.
Guimbal has over 4,000 households, she added.
Her sister, Vice Mayor Jennifer Garin-Colada, expressed a similar sentiment.
“Ano ang basis? Can they show to us proper documents kon ano ang protocol,” said Colada over DyOK Aksyon Radyo Iloilo. “Gaan nila kami sina, ukon halin man kay governor kay masunod kami.”
The Garin sisters’ father, Oscar, is the mayor of Guimbal. He could not be reached for comment as of this writing.
Colada lamented that the 14-day (March 13 to March 26) home quarantine of people who had close contact with Patient No. 2 had just ended but now they have to undergo another two-week quarantine because of DOH-6’s latest PUM declaration.
Vice Governor Garin assured DOH-6 the municipality of Guimbal would abide by the latter’s decision, including what the regional health office said was an “automatic” home quarantining of the municipality’s residents for 14 days.
She appealed for help from DOH-6, the provincial government and other concerned government agencies. The local government of Guimbal could not possibly shoulder all the food requirements of its residents, she said.
Data from the Iloilo Provincial Population Office showed Guimbal having a population of 35,601 as of 2018.
Under DOH’s interim guidelines on the management of PUMs, these people must be subject to home quarantine for 14 days.
“Those undergoing home quarantine shall be prohibited to leave their rooms/homes where they are quarantined until they have been certified by the local health official to have finished the 14-day requirement for quarantine procedures,” read part of the guidelines (II. Guidelines, C) issued on Feb. 17, 2020 (Department Memorandum No. 2020-0090).
Garin played down the local transmission of COVID-19 in Guimbal.
“It’s not something nga makatilingala sa amon,” she said, noting that the persons who tested positive for the disease in her hometown were relatives.
Colada, on the other, urged the people of Guimbal not to panic.
While there is an ongoing quarantine, she said, essential goods and basic necessities remain accessible in establishments that are allowed to continue operating./PN
