Relative to the growing threat of the 2019 Coronavirus Infectious Disease (COVID-19) and its high probability to infect large numbers of people through crowd and mass gatherings, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued an advisory directing offices, agencies within its jurisdiction to postpone and reschedule all activities that will involve the gathering people.
Following the declaration of the State of Public Health Emergency, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año announced earlier the postponement of barangay assemblies which is supposed to be conducted on any Saturday or Sunday this month. Barangay officials are given the permission to move their meetings to a later date provided that it will be held within the first of this year.
“While holding of the barangay assembly day is important, we need to think of the greater good and ensure the general welfare of our people,” said Sec. Año.
Aside from the barangay assembly day, other activities of the DILG Cordillera are also postponed – Regional Launching of the “Disiplina Muna” National Advocacy Campaign on March 18, and On-the-Spot Poster Making Contest about Peace Building on March 23. The DILG Cordillera is yet to announce the final dates for these activities.
The DILG Cordillera provides up-to-date information and announcements through its official social media accounts and website.
“This is to clarify that we are not cancelling our activities, we are only rescheduling these to avoid the spread of the virus. We walk the talk since the department moved for the postponement of activities as proactive measure, we have to be the first to abide by it,” said DILG Cordillera Dir. Marlo Iringan.
Dir. Iringan also reminded the local government units to reinforce and mobilize their Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) to help the government monitor and contain the virus.
It is the responsibility of the BHERTs to ensure that all residents are accounted for by monitoring the community through home visitation of arriving passengers from coronavirus-infected countries within their respective localities.
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