THESE past few weeks, this city’s Mayor Jerry Treñas has taken to adding the postscript “Bató Iloilo! Kaya ta ni!” to all his correspondences online – Hiligaynon for “Fight Iloilo! We can get through this!” – a welcome assurance to the Ilonggos gripped by the fear and uncertainty of COVID-19, as his office undertakes proactive steps to keep the city safe and afloat.
Under Treñas’ leadership, this city has shown promise as one of the most responsive local government units when it comes to addressing the peril of novel coronavirus – the mayor earning praises online for his resolute governance and Iloilo City even being labeled as its “own country inside the Philippines,” as Filipinos in other cities grow frustrated over the national government’s inaction and incompetence.
The firebrand statesman is no stranger to times of crisis, already a three-term mayor – serving as city chief from 2004 to 2013, before going on a congressional stint as the representative of the lone district of Iloilo City from 2013 to 2019.
Treñas’ mettle had already been tested as early as 2008, when typhoon Frank (international name: Fengshen) tore past the city and caused billions in agricultural and infrastructure damage. A decade before this widespread pandemic, the veteran politician rallied Iloilo City past one of its most harrowing times and rebuilt it from the ground up, paving the way for the economic boom the locale is enjoying today.
Treñas returned to the city hall last year after securing a dominant victory in the 2019 elections, proving the Ilonggos still believed in his public service. It seems he’s returned at the most opportune time, as the threat of novel coronavirus requires a decisive leader who’s willing to innovate and adapt under pressure.
“We are only doing our job. What we did was really just to make sure that Iloilo City will be able to attend to all the needs of its constituents during this time of crisis,” Treñas told this writer in a phone interview, speaking about his reaction to the viral posts online lauding his leadership.
However, the mayor doesn’t want to take sole credit for city hall’s efforts, underscoring that all their endeavors are made possible through the grit and perseverance of his staff, the city’s frontliners, Iloilo’s other local leaders, and the robust support of the Ilonggo private sector.
‘Foresight and Initiative’
As early as late January 2020, Treñas had flagged COVID-19 as a potential threat to the way of life of the Ilonggos. The mayor, along with Iloilo Provincial Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., appealed to carrier Cebu Pacific Airlines to temporarily stop direct flights to and from Hong Kong to the Iloilo International Airport, as the China was quickly emerging as the epicenter of the pandemic.
“To fully ensure peace and order, we really try to foresee what will happen during times of crisis and think of solutions to address any upcoming challenges we may face,” Treñas said.
In the succeeding weeks, the mayor continued to monitor the news and watched as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases began to swell in Metro Manila.
On March 20, even with zero confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in Iloilo, Treñas took the decisive step of signing Executive Order (EO) 55-2020 to enforce a preventive enhanced community quarantine on the city. Iloilo City Hall coordinated with the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Philippine Coastguard, and the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) to implement the measures of the ECQ, establishing strategic checkpoints and border controls.
What followed was a dash to ensure that all the Ilonggos’ needs were attended to even during the “lockdown”: Knocking on the city council to approve a supplemental budget to combat COVID-19, coordinating with grocery stores and local suppliers to ensure that the city had ample supply of basic necessities, and calling on big Ilonggo businessmen for donations, aid, and relief assistance.
Since then, the donations from the private sector have poured and not stopped. The mayor estimates that the city has received some P15 million donations in kind already – from sacks of rice, to poultry products, and other relief goods, all of which have gone to feeding underprivileged Ilonggos. The city currently runs 240 community kitchens that serve at least two hot meals a day to barangays around Iloilo. The mayor has also established a kitchen specifically dedicated to feeding the city’s some 1,700 front-liners every day.
Talking about the Ilonggos predisposition to help out their fellow Ilonggos, Treñas related that: “Our donors trust that whatever they give will give will go straight to our beneficiary Ilonggos.”
As of April 2, City Hall has started distributing some 8,225 sacks of rice and 1,652 boxes of canned goods and noodles to its barangay constituents, establishing centrally located Jaro Gym as its Relief Operations headquarters.
‘Mass testing now’
Treñas also remains steadfast in lobbying the Department of Health to conduct mass testing efforts in Iloilo, seeing aggressive testing as the best means to get a handle on the extent of the COVID-19 spread in the city and to better isolate and care for carriers of novel coronavirus.
Localized testing in Iloilo City began in late March, with DOH accrediting the West Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) as a test hub, and allotting 5,000 kits to run the facility. The test hub was made possible through Treñas’ collaboration with Ilonggo doctors and scientists, as well as parallel efforts by Congresswoman Julienne Baronda and the DOH.
However, DOH has allocated only 500 kits for “aggressive” testing in the city, Treñas bared, saying that is nowhere near enough to conduct massive testing in Iloilo. He said that some 2,500 test kits have arrived in Iloilo City, purchased by Ilonggo private sector groups from South Korea. He hopes to cooperate with the DOH and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine to conduct mass testing in the city beginning this week.
Treñas reveals the test kits cost around P5.5 million, with affluent Ilonggo private individuals to contributing and pooling their resources. The city hall has also raised P1.6 million for the purchase and production of personal protective equipment (PPE) for Ilonggo frontliners, the mayor a staunch protector of the welfare of the city’s medical professionals.
“It is now the sworn duty of DOH to provide the testing, and protection for all our doctors. I do not want to see another doctor die because of the lack of proper PPEs,” the public official had said in a statement.
Treñas recently led the charge in amending the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance to safeguard the rights of Ilonggo nurses, doctors and front-liners. After the city’s first confirmed COVID-19 positive patient was reported admitted at The Medical City Iloilo on March 21, some 50 members of its staff experienced some form of discrimination due to the fear surrounding the novel coronavirus – shunned from their boarding houses, sari-sari stores, and eateries.
The city mayor took immediate steps to establish Iloilo City College, also in Molo district and just walking distance to Medical City Iloilo, as temporary dormitories for all medical staff in the city who have no place to stay.
Iloilo City has also begun nightly sanitation efforts to disinfect the city’s streets every evening, led by the City Health Office with the help of firetrucks from the Bureau of Fire and privately-run local firefighting groups Federation Iloilo Fire Brigade and the Iloilo Citizens Action Group (ICAG).
The city’s other proactive moves include the establishment of a designated COVID-19 isolation zone for persons under investigation (PUI) and persons under monitoring (PUM), and utilizing John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University’s ship – anchored at Iloilo River Wharf in Muelle Loney, City Proper – as a temporary venue for lodging of medical frontliners.
“I continue to have faith in humanity,” said Treñas. “These efforts would not have been possible if not for the love and compassion of our fellow Ilonggos. The best part of humanity is service. We know in the end that life is a little better because of what we have done today. Tomorrow is another day. Let us face it with strength and decisiveness, and with passion and compassion to all that we serve.”
“Stay strong my beloved Ilonggos, kaya ta ni. Kay tanan kita ga binuligay,” the city mayor concluded.
[“Stay strong my beloved Ilonggos, we can get through this. We will be able to overcome this crisis by helping each other.”]/PN
