Bacolod City is not in good shape as far as Covid situation is concerned. Several months ago when we were lockdown (ECQ) economically, all are affected until today. Many are wondering if what are the preparations of the city government to combat the pandemic. Are they prepared for the worst to come? 

In an interview with lone opposition in the city council, Councilor Wilson Jun Gamboa Jr., he was asked if what errors the city government has committed as far as their approach on the spike on the number of the Covid-19 cases.

Gamboa’s reply was a quick action and response to the following to wit:

1. Detection
2. Testing. Based on the record, Gamboa recalled that as early as April he manifested at the city council to expand testings to the greatest acceptable degree so as to confirm actual infected and evaluate case doubling rate. Mapping of all 61 barangays of Bacolod in terms of number of suspect, probable and confirmed but they never did.
3. Isolation
4. Treatment. Last April, Gamboa asked before the city council, “What is our critical care utilization rate proportional to the case doubling rate? This cannot be computed without an expanded testing application. Nevertheless, we need to conduct inventory of our physical plants for quarantine, number of ICU beds, availability of medicines, etc.”

None of the above took place since day one. Simply put what is the priority of the majority in the city council? The people of Bacolod voted for those honorable gentlemen in the council and we need you to take the cudgel what is best for the people in times of pandemic and emergencies where time is of the essence. Hospitals are overwhelmed, health workers are exhausted and resigning and our health care system is in the verge of collapse.

Now Bacolod is in critical stage. The hospitals are congested. We have no hospital here of our own, we only rely on government hospitals that cater to the whole province. It is the outcry of Bacolodnons that the city badly needs a hospital but it seems it falls in the deaf ears of our city officials.

What is their priority? Just asking. We will forget politics in this time of unprecedented crisis, many already died of this virus, the health of the people is at great risk. The government, private sector and the citizens of this city must go hand in hand, but it is the government that must take the initiative.

***

Kudos to the mayors of San Carlos City and Moises Padilla that despite the meager budget, they were able to construct a double story isolation facility soon to be finished despite the less number of Covid-19 case in their localities.

These two are just example of good leaders who are pro-active, preparing before the storm and not reactionary with no direction.

There are a lot of good local chief executives who are on the frontline to address the problem. In this pandemic we can clearly distinguish who is a good leader and who is a lame duck./WDJ