BY MATÈ ESPINA
WITH the rising cases of COVID-19 in our midst, local chief executives in Panay are seriously mulling to close their borders from travellers coming from Negros Occidental.
A decision has yet to be made as of this writing but both Bacolod City mayor Bing Leonardia and Negros Occidental governor Bong Lacson will not oppose the idea given that more than half of the 3,146 active cases in the region are here.
“I will understand if Iloilo will close their borders,” Gov. Bong said in an interview over Aksyon Radyo Bacolod yesterday morning, saying he would do the same if the situation is reversed.
“We cannot blame them,” the governor added, as he admitted that the province might be seeing higher figures in the coming days as an offshoot of ongoing contact tracing.
Negros Occidental has been seeing three-digit figures in the last four days and mostly from local transmission. At present, we have 1,335 active cases, almost four times than the rest of the region with Bacolod coming in second with 456 cases.
Although isolating the province will definitely hurt trade and commerce, Lacson said “we will manage,” adding that it is important now to “bring the numbers down and I am sure Iloilo will open up also.”
One can really sense the frustration of the governor against the National IATF and the regional directors after his request to place the province under GCQ was ignored.
Lacson said he was informed that the NIATF received the endorsement of his request from the region but it was not included in the agenda prior to the announcement of presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque last Sunday which placed the rest of the country under MGCQ outside of the NCR bubble.
The governor said he has been calling regional directors to clarify whether his request was “denied or not taken up” as the province remains in limbo on preparing further since “I am expecting we will be hitting higher figures in the coming days.”
While he remained guarded in his interview, Lacson couldn’t help taking a jab at the NIATF saying, “If they only allowed us to manage the situation with our own protocols, this would not have happened.”
Lacson was alluding to the order from the NIATF to remove mandatory swabbing of travellers upon arrival which clearly caused the surge in cases which has now turned into local transmission. With several hospitals and health centers around the province closed for disinfection, including portions of the provincial hospital, the situation may turn into a crisis, if it hasn’t already.
A new variant is suspected of causing the surge in Western Visayas but the Department of Health has not confirmed this. Lacson said they regularly send samples but to date, there is no notice or feedback from DOH labs to confirm their suspicion of whether indeed there is a new variant that is fast-spreading.
Of course, not everyone is happy with Lacson’s decision to request for a GCQ but this is unanimously supported by the mayors under the province. A couple of mayors were recently infected including a provincial board member and a vice-mayor. A former mayor in a southern city was also hospitalized but is now recovering.
A curfew from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. was also implemented yesterday to help control the movement of people. He also said that he will ask the provincial tourism office to inform all resorts to temporarily close down until the numbers are contained.
“I know its summer time, but I am appealing to everyone to do away with leisure travel in the next two weeks and help us manage the situation,” Lacson added.
The governor sought the understanding and cooperation of everyone in order to avert a crisis and while awaiting the decision of the NIATF over the GCQ request, Lacson called on the public to practice personal ECQ and urged wearing double masks when going outside of their homes.
In Bacolod meanwhile, more than the COVID crisis, there is much interest in the rumors that former Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Albee Benitez may challenge Mayor Bing in the coming elections.
There is mixed reaction to the rumors with some welcoming Albee’s bid for the mayoralty post while others are not so open to allow an out-of-towner to run and manage the city. But from what I heard, the business group may go for the billionaire congressman who is presently acting as economic development consultant of the province.
Much of the clamor for a change in leadership came with this pandemic. There was public disappointment over the mayor’s handling of the situation early on. Albee on the other hand, prominently figured in the province’s response to COVID-19 from donating funds and sourcing laboratory equipment so we do not have to compete with the rest of the region in testing and awaiting swab results, etc.
Sources said with a little push and shove, Albee might really be convinced to run for the post and might be the only one, given his resources, to challenge the longest sitting mayor of Bacolod./PN
