BACOLOD City Councilor Al Victor Espino has expressed support to the plan of mayor-elect Alfredo Benitez to dissolve the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and instead task to the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) the city's coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response.
Benitez earlier said that the EOC was designed to respond in pandemic situations, but for now, the Covid-19 pandemic has not much activity or operations.
"So, let's collapse it to the one department, which is the DRRMO," the mayor-elect said.
The EOC was formed by outgoing Mayor Evelio Leonardia to lead the city's Covid-19 response including the vaccination program.
Espino said Benitez wants to assign the EOC into one department to synchronize all the Covid-19 data.
He said the personnel at DRRMO are also capable of doing their jobs and the incoming mayor might only assign personnel to oversee the office.
For her part, Dr. Ma. Ana Marie Pornan, head of DRRMO, said they are also set to meet with Benitez so they can present their report to the incoming administration.
In 2020, Leonardia issued Executive Order 59, the creation of EOC-Task Force with the primary objective of containing the spread of Covid-19 in the city.
It was headed by councilor-elect Em Ang with its deputy for data and analysis, Dr. Chris Sorongon.
Meanwhile, Espino said the incoming administration is also preparing its personnel to occupy the vacated posts of the casual employees who will end on June 30, 2022.
"In the event that they will not report on their respective offices, we have our personnel to continue the city's services like the traffic enforcers, and street cleaners, among others," he said.
The candidates who won during the just-concluded elections will assume their post at 12 noon of June 30.