ILOILO City – Without mincing words, Mayor Jerry Treñas fired back at Foreign Affairs secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr., who had accused the mayor on Twitter of politicking and blaming residents for the surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.
“Sin-o ni si Locsin? Daw sin-o nga otot! Ano gid siya? Y*ta ya eh! Ay sa ka l*nti nga tawo!” an incensed Treñas told DYFM Bombo Radyo in a blistering interview Monday morning.
He countered Locsin’s claim, saying residents of Iloilo were working together to reduce the spread of the viral disease.
“Iloilo City is much better than what you think. We all work together. We know that governance is always a shared responsibility both of the governors and the governed,” said Treñas.
Locsin tweeted over the weekend a news article on GMA News Online about the request of the city government to lower its community quarantine status from Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) to the less stringent General Community Quarantine (GCQ).
The report quoted Treñas as saying that the rise in locally transmitted cases in the city could be because people forgot there was still virus transmission or were careless, citing a case of a drinking party.
“How come Treñas can blame his constituents for carelessness, of being pasaway – that ugly word – and get away with it? Because of opposition hypocrisy,” read Locsin’s now-deleted tweet.
Treñas, however, clarified that he did not intend to blame Iloilo residents.
“Please be informed that I do not blame anyone for the rising cases in Iloilo City. I take full and complete responsibility for whatever happens to Iloilo City and I am now exploring all possible options as to what is best for my people and my city,” he said.
Treñas also said it was unfortunate that Locsin still claims political sides amid a pandemic.
“Instead of looking for ways to help in this fight during this pandemic, we have a Secretary of Foreign Affairs who dips his finger on anything he thinks he is bright enough to make a nasty comment,” Treñas said.
The city mayor even described Locsin as a useless secretary and dared him to go to Iloilo City so they could just have a fistfight.
Treñas emphasized that city officials have been doing their best to fight the pandemic, thus, he will never allow Locsin to just belittle it.
In a separate radio interview over RMN Iloilo, Treñas demanded that Locsin apologize to the Ilonggos.
“Daw indi ko katulog sa kainit ko gid bala nga ginabatyag ko sa putot nga ini,” said Treñas.
Continuing his rant, “Sorry lang Teddy Boy. Boy ka lang ya asta subong. Ako ya tawo na ko, mayor na ko. Pero ikaw ya you continue to be a Teddy Boy. You’re still a boy. So, grow up!”
Currently, the city hall has more than 60 positive cases that included a city councilor and several department heads.
The Sept. 24 decision for an MECQ status was triggered by the emergence of more than 30 new COVID-19 cases at the treasurer’s office and a surge in cases in several barangays.
This also prompted the city government to conduct a three-day widespread testing from Sept. 23 to 25, where a total of 2, 390 city hall employees and officials were swabbed.
City Councilor Jay Treñas, on Friday, confirmed he was one of the COVID-19 positives. He is the second city officials who contracted COVID-19 next to Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon who already recovered.
City COVID-19 Team spokesperson Jeck Conlu also confirmed that among those who contracted the virus were three department heads and one Executive Assistant.
The three department heads were City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head Donna Magno, Human Resource Department head Leo Elevencione and General Service Office head Joren Sartorio.
Apart from the 54, there were 33 employees under the City Treasurer’s Office who were earlier tested positive for the viral infection.
The City Health Office as of yesterday received a total of 1,880negative results.
Meanwhile, as of Sept. 26, this southern city has a total of 2,254 confirmed cases of which 963 are active cases; 1,229 recovered and 52 died.
The age of COVID-19 patients here ranges from one month old to 99 years old while the most affected group is 21 to 30 years old.
The city also records 62 barangays with clustering of cases (2 or more cases in 2 consecutive morbidity weeks)./PN
