ILOILO City – The city government is pouring more funds into its campaign to motivate barangays in their fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Yesterday, Mayor Jerry Treñas allotted P1.6 million to barangays with “laudable achievements” in containing the spread of the viral illness.
Dubbed “Bato, Iloilo. Bato Barangay Ko!” this initiative also aims to highlight the city’s continuing recovery from the pandemic and the Ilonggos’ resilience.
“We want to reward the efforts, cooperation and initiatives of barangays in the collective fight against COVID-19,” Treñas said.
The campaign would likewise encourage barangays leaders to explore and implement programs that best protect their residents from the pandemic, the mayor added.
This southern city is made of up 180 barangays.
Each barangay can win as much as P10,000 if they get to win awards such as Most Effective Barangay Info Drive Against COVID-19, Most Active Barangay Council Against COVID-19, Most Active Barangay SK Against COVID-19, and Most Active Barangay Social Media Campaign Against COVID-19.
The fund will be taken from the mayor’s fund.
Earlier, Mayor Treñas challenged the barangays in seven districts to keep their areas free of COVID-19 for the entire month of December and get a reward of P50,000 in return.
According to the mayor, it is imperative to motivate barangays by providing them with incentives, which can also serve as assistance in maximizing their response.
The city government will team up with the Department of Health to verify if a barangay tallied zero COVID-19 cases by the end of December before it could claim the incentive
As of Dec. 4, Iloilo City had 141 active COVID-19 cases left. A total of 4,128 of 4,405 cumulative confirmed cases recovered from the viral illness./PN
