Following the detection of the COVID-19 UK variant in the municipality and the rising number of confirmed cases, the Municipal Local Government Unit of Bontoc has requested assistance from the different national and regional government offices to address the current situation at hand.
Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey made an urgent request to Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr., Presidential Adviser on Peace Process and Chief Implementer of the COVID-19 National Task Force for the following:
One unit Walk-in Testing Center, with personnel, for intensified and aggressive mass testing in the municipality;
5,000 complete sets of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE);
5,000 RT-PCR test kits;
1,000 boxes of N95 face masks; and
1,000 units Antigen Test Kits
As the president of the League of Mayors of Mountain Province, he also requested 1,000 sets of PPE, 1,000 RT-PCR test kits, and 3,000 Antigen test kits to be provided to each of the 9 other towns in Mountain Province, which are Bauko, Tadian, Sabangan, Sagada, Sadanga, Besao, Barlig, Natonin, and Paracelis.
Odsey also requested for additional funding from the Department of Health (DOH) for the construction of additional Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facility to supplement the ones which are already being prepared by the MLGU, in coordination with the provincial government unit and the Department of Education (DepEd) Mountain Province. Additional medical supplies, Antigen Test Kits, and UPM Kits were also requested from the said office.
With the lockdown imposed in Samoki, Bontoc Ili, Poblacion, and Caluttit, the livelihood of many residents in the said barangays and as well as the outskirt barangays have been greatly affected. Thus, the Mayor requested possible financial assistance for affected micro, small, and medium enterprises from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). In addition, he also requested food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to augment the food packs which were earlier purchased by the MLGU.
Pending these requests from the above mentioned agencies, the DOH have already acted upon the badly needed augmentation for contact tracers.
Mayor Odsey is hopeful that through the support of the national, regional, provincial governments, and with the utmost cooperation of the people, Bontoc shall slowly heal and rise up from this pandemic. Bontoc LGU/Photo DOH-CAR
