The barangays remain to be the “main battleground” as Bacolod City courses its way through the sudden spike of COVID-19 cases over the last two weeks, according to Mayor Evelio Leonardia during a virtual meeting with city and barangay officials on Tuesday night.

“You know the situation today, and I am sure you will act correspondingly. We will continue to ask for your support and cooperation,” said Leonardia.

Leading the meeting aside from city mayor were Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chair of the city’s Inter-Agency Task Force and chair of Task Force Disiplina; City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the Emergency Operations Center; Councilor Renecito Novero, chair of the Quarantine Centers Action Team; and Councilor Lady Gles Pallen, president of the Liga ng mga Barangay.

With Bacolod once again seeing an alarming increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, Leonardia said barangay officials must do again their part in the fight against the virus.

“This is really a barangay operation matter. We are not going to say that we are back to square one because there’s no doubt about it—we have already put in place many systems and infrastructures we did not have at the start of this pandemic. Rather, what is apparent now is that we are back in the danger zone,” he said.

The virtual meeting discussed pertinent matters relating to COVID-19 surge containment measures and other issues that required the active participation of the barangays.

Aside from Bacolod, the number of COVID-19 cases also increased in the National Capital Region, the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, and the cities of Cebu and Davao.

The mayor said highly urbanized cities like Bacolod are “vulnerable” in terms of the viral spread due to their population density.

“Let’s all think about what Secretary Carlito Galvez said to me, that with the increase of cases in Manila, there is always a tendency that this will spill over to the highly urbanized cities,” Leonardia said./WDJ