Bacolod not under ECQ;Mayor sets DOH dialog on ECQ request of Bacolod medics

The urgent appeal of the Bacolod medical community to place the city again under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) for at least two weeks, was discussed yesterday (July 27) by Mayor Evelio Leonardia and other city officials in a virtual meeting with Department of Health (DOH) regional director Dr. Marlyn Convocar.

Joining the dialog were Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) regional director Jose Roberto Nuñez, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional director Juan Jovian Ingeniero, and Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson.

Joining from the Bacolod City Government Center were Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who chairs the local Inter-Agency Task Force(IATF); Councilor Cindy Rojas, who chairs the Action Team on Returning Residents; City Administrator Em Ang, Secretary to the Mayor Atty. Edward Joseph Cuansing, Executive Assistant George Zulueta, and IATF spokesperson Dr. Grace Tan.

Also joining online were select medical doctors, businessmen, and representatives of the Bacolod City Health Office, Bacolod City DRRMO, and Iloilo City DRRMO.
On July 20, Canlaon Medical Society president Dr. Ma. Ivy Malata and Negros Occidental Medical Society president Dr. Robert Puerta wrote to Leonardia to express their alarm on the recent spike of COVID-19 cases in Bacolod and Negros Occidental due to local transmissions.

They recommended that Bacolod be placed under ECQ for at least two weeks again in order to limit the movement of people as a means to contain the virus and prevent its spread to a level of high community transmission, which would be, according to them, more difficult to handle.
Leonardia and other city officials then held a teleconference with the officers of these two medical associations Saturday, July 25.

DATA NEEDED FOR ECQ

During the virtual meeting yesterday July 27, RD Nuñez discussed the seven data requirements that an LGU must submit to the National IATF Screening and Validation Committee in order for it to fast-track the decision-making on the LGU’s requested classification of community quarantine.

The National IATF Screening and Validation Committee is headed by DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III.

Nuñez explained that once the required data is submitted, the regional IATF will assess and recommend to the National IATF the prospective quarantine status for any LGU.

At its level, Bacolod has no more authority to independently declare its own quarantine status.

City Administrator Em Ang was tasked to submit by July 28 the required data to the Regional IATF so that the recommendation of the Bacolod medical community can be properly evaluated.