ILOILO City – Mayor Jerry Treñas is expected to tackle the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – mainly the city government’s response to the pandemic – in his State of City Address (SOCA) today, his second since his election last year.
His SOCA will be broadcast in his official Facebook page beginning at 6 p.m.
Treñas will also be outlining to the Ilonggos how the city could move forward from COVID-19, and specifically how it can revive its economy hobbled by the community quarantine which is now on its fourth month.
Iloilo City has been under varying levels of community quarantine since March – enhanced community quarantine, general community quarantine and modified general community quarantine.
In a press conference yesterday, Treñas gave journalists a sneak peek of his SOCA, such as the successful distribution of free “Ilonggo pandesal” to communities in an effort to combat hunger while the city was on lockdown.
Treñas said some 43,000 pieces of pandesal were baked and delivered to the barangays for two weeks. He cited the help of bakeries and suppliers that volunteered for this endeavor.
Another initiative to address hunger, said Treñas, were the community kitchens hosted by 204 daycare centers and 37 barangay halls.
A total of 205 daycare workers, 180 supplemental feeding workers and 447 parent-leaders of the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program were tapped to cook and distribute prepared meals.
Treñas said 1,903,036 meals were prepared by community kitchens which started in March and ended in June.
The mayor also cited the targeted COVID-19 mass testing of the city government covering initially frontliners. As of July 16, said Treñas, 9,484 swabs were performed for reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT -PCR) test and 8,642 rapid tests.
Treñas also said the city government’s “Uswag Sewers” were able to produce 215,465 pieces of facemasks.
The city’s chief executive cited, too, the cooperation extended by Ilonggo businessmen to the city government.Aside from helping produce Ilonggo pandesal, he said, they also donated COVID-19 test kits./PN
