TO PREVENT the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (Opav) will distribute 700,000 masks in Cebu City and 300,000 in different local government units (LGUs) in Cebu Province.
Opav Secretary Michael Dino said Thursday, June 18, 2020, that the masks were donated by businessmen Enrique Razon Jr. and Kim Wong.
Dino said his office saw the need to hand out free face masks even though it’s not part of its job because “we are the national government.”
He said the distribution of masks will be done by the local government that will have to contend with politics. The masks, he said, should be given to those who need them most.
In the case of Cebu City, he said the majority of the 80 barangay captains are not allied with Mayor Edgardo Labella.
“The problem with Cebu (City) is because of politics. The barangay captains, 60 or 70 percent, are not his (Labella),” Dino told SunStar Cebu and Superbalita Cebu editors at Montebello Villa Hotel Cebu.
He cited the lack of cooperation from barangay captains during the mass rapid testing that was part of Project Balik Buhay.
Unlike in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, he said Cebu City had to conduct a second mass testing because only a small percentage of the target population of each barangay participated in the activity during the first week.
In most cases, less than 10 percent of the target residents showed up to be tested, he said.
After the second mass testing, Cebu City was able to test 85 percent of target residents. But this was still lower compared to the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, where the number of people who underwent rapid testing exceeded their target, he added.
Meanwhile, Dino said Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella and City Councilors Raymond Alvin Garcia and Eduardo Rama Jr. will distribute the face masks to the city’s 80 barangay captains on Saturday, June 20.
The turnover will take place at the Cebu Coliseum.
Garcia will be charged with monitoring the distribution in the north distriction, while Rama will oversee the distribution in the south district.
“We will conduct a formal turnover so barangay constituents will also see the face masks. We will also post on social media how many masks each barangay will receive,” Rama said in Cebuano.
Rama said they will check the number of masks each barangay will distribute in the sitios.
They will then post the number on the Facebook page of the Cebu City Public Information Office so those constituents who will not get a face mask can question their barangay officials, he said.
Rama said they will urge barangay captains to prioritize those living in depressed and densely populated areas, especially residents of coastal barangays.
The city councilor said he has a proposal to provide students of public schools three sets of washable face masks, but this is still pending before the City Council.
The Department of Education had announced that the nationwide opening of classes for basic education would be on Aug. 24.
Cebu City has 2,078 active Covid-19 cases after it reported an additional 122 cases on Thursday, June 19. / REV / PJB