A GROUP of professionals, mostly physicians, have signed a manifesto urging the leadership of Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno to declare and implement a city-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to contain and eliminate the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
The CDO People’s Forum/Hugpong sa mga Nagpakabanang Kagay-anon have posted the manifesto online due to physical distancing policy and it has since garnered more than 300 signatories who supported and endorsed the campaign as of this writing.
According to the convenors, led by Dr. Meneleo “Loloy” Navarro and at the same time the group’s designated spokesperson, the signatures do not appear on the document but each person listed in the manifesto have signified and confirmed the inclusion of their names in the manifesto.
The group said the campaign continues until the mayor will heed their call.
CDO People’s Forum was organized sometime in late March by some concerned Kagay-anons among them are doctors, nurses, lawyers, other professionals, business personalities, academicians, village leaders, and others who have common interest “to call on the city government through its leadership to put in place quickly drastic measures to ensure the safety and protection of the health and welfare of all Kagay-anons against Covid-19.”
“We strongly urge and call on Mayor Oscar Moreno to heed the call of the medical experts. The Covid-19 pandemic is a health crisis. The call of the frontliners -- doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers and service providers and many other Kagay-anons must be given utmost consideration and attention. The campaign to contain and eliminate the Covid-19 pandemic is a fight against a potent, vicious yet invisible adversary. The cry of our frontliners/healthcare providers and their allied service workers must not be disregarded or taken lightly by the City Government,” part of the manifesto reads.
“Covid-19 cases are increasing and the trend will continue in the coming weeks and months. The grave peril to the public well-being is very evident. We do not have adequate hospitals and medical facilities, equipment, personal protective equipment and gear, testing kits, and critically the needed human health resources to address a possible sudden surge of Covid-19 cases in the city. Unless Kagay-anons through the City Government and its leadership do some drastic and timely measures, the little resources that our front liners have will very soon be worn-out,” it added.
The group also seeks city hall’s quick distribution of sufficient food package and other assistance to the affected families all over the city to ensure that residents stay at home during the ECQ enforcement even as it foresees a prolonged struggle to eliminate the pandemic that could last for several months.
“The Cagayan de Oro People’s Forum/Hugpong sa mga nagpakabanang Kagay-anon and other concerned Kagay-anons strongly and resolutely advocate for and recommend the immediate declaration and implementation of an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) by the City Government of Cagayan de Oro thru Mayor Oscar Moreno, and for the City Government to provide sufficient human health resource (HRH) augmentation support of additional doctors, nurses, medical technicians and other allied health and support service workers and logistical assistance to the present front liners such as, but not limited to, personal protective equipment and implements and supplies, food provision, rest and isolation quarters, and other necessary support and provisions,” the manifesto states.