RETIRED military general and Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) chief implementer for the Visayas Melquiades Feliciano and his wife, Mia, were honored by the Cebu City Council as its first “adopted couple.”
In its regular session on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020, the City Council honored the couple through a joint resolution filed by Cebu City councilors Joel Garganera and Franklyn Ong.
Feliciano was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as the IATF’s chief implementer in the Visayas in June 2020 when Cebu and the rest of Central Visayas were experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases.
In June alone, Cebu City was branded as the “epicenter” of Covid-19 cases in the country for logging as high as 5,000 cases with 397 mortalities.
Feliciano was joined by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who was tasked by Duterte to oversee efforts in curbing the spread of Covid-19 in Cebu.
Aside from Feliciano, his wife, who is a nurse by profession, helped him in establishing and operating Cebu City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
The resolution said Feliciano and his wife provided assistance to the EOC by helping to reach out to different stakeholders and establishments to have a “multi-faceted” approach in the emergency response in Cebu City.
As a result of their work and with guidance from Cimatu, Cebu City’s Covid-19 cases declined by a significant rate.
After doing what they came to do, Feliciano, his wife and Cimatu eventually left for Western Visayas to oversee the Covid-19 situation there.
Two months after Feliciano left, residents of the city are still enjoying the results of his efforts.
“Despite not being full-blooded Cebuanos, they have greatly contributed in improving the way of life of the people of Cebu City despite this pandemic,” the resolution said. / JJL