ALFONSO LISTA, IFUGAO – – Neophyte mayor Edralin Alipio just passed with high marks the “baptism of fire” by acting decisively on key concerns of residents of this town in the 11 days of the announced month-long enhanced “community quarantine” declaration of the national government.
At an emergency meeting he called, Mayor Alipio met the town’s punong barangays (village chieftains) and enlightened them on instructions and guidelines in the conduct of day-to-day activities of the populace during the health crisis.
“I am fully aware of the difficulties faced by our people in these times because of the problems brought about by the coronavirus. Heeding the call of President Duterte to take the COVID-19 problem seriously, I called for this meeting to further strengthen the municipal government’s efforts to fight and contain the coronavirus in Alfonso Lista,” Mayor Alipio told the ZigZag Weekly.
“I salute our punong barangays and the other officials of the barangay for manning the frontlines. We are truly proud to have heroic Filipinos in their persons who are sacrificing their lives to save our countrymen,” he added.
Mayor Alipio also directed the village chieftains to speed up the delivery of relief goods to poor folks, most especially in far-flung barangays.
The meeting was held at the Liga ng mga Barangay (Association of Barangay Captains) Hall. It was attended by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) municipal local government operations officer Florita Narciza, municipal agriculture officer Engr. Eugenio Culimay Jr., municipal health officer Dr. Laurice Guillen, Potia District Hospital chief Dr. Ceasar Sevilleja, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Alfonso Lista head Zeandell Balao and acting chief of police P/Capt. Michael Dangilan. Joining them were Vice Governor Glenn Prudenciano and Vice Mayor Agapito Dominguez Jr.
Councilor Noel Prudenciano was also seen in the crowd of 45. He is the chairman of the committee on health and sanitation at the Sangguniang Bayan.
For his part, Vice Governor Prudenciano vowed to provide all-out assistance to his town mates. He served as mayor of this farming town for nine years.
“Putting up ‘rolling stores’ in the barangays should be considered by our officials as a means of augmenting and purchasing food products in the coming days and weeks,” Vice Governor Prudenciano said.
The vice governor also motioned that quarantine “passes” at the moment are best transacted on barangay captain-to-barangay captain and mayor-to-mayor basis.
Prudenciano, a resident of Barangay Sta. Maria, answered queries raised by the grassroots level officials.
Village heads sounded their apprehensions on the disruption of the daily lives of farmers and fisher folk.
For one, San Jose Punong Barangay Estelito Agus sees the need for the municipal government to stand side-by-side, hand-in-hand with rice and corn farmers in these difficult times.
“Let’s make sure that our farmers receive every assistance they need,” he quipped. Agus, an articulate and dedicated public servant in this part of the province, is a former ABC president.
Questions on the quarantine “pass” only reflected the growing confusion among the people. Can someone in a household get a second “pass” and immediately use the same in buying food or medicines? No. A household has been given only one “pass” which means no other person is allowed to do such chores. Yet, there are reports that some households obtained two or more “passes.” In some parts of the country, there are reports that “fake passes” have surfaced.
Do you have to pay for the quarantine “pass?” No. The “pass” is for free. Yet, there was no discussion on it. Some punong barangays chose to ask, ask and ask questions on petty matters.
Apparently, they were too focused on the trucks ferrying goods passing through certain checkpoints in their barangays. The more pressing issue was on the deleterious effects of COVID-19 on drivers and workers who are themselves in questionable health conditions. Dr. Guillen expressed her disappointment and disgust not a few times over the misreading and misunderstanding of the situation.
“What then is the justification for all of us in the health sector, all of those in the frontlines, to seriously attend to our task of protecting and saving lives of our beloved people in Alfonso Lista, if we allow others to circumvent regulations and get away with their actions?” she bewailed.
Without a doubt, Dr. Guillen was absolutely right since without a cure or vaccine, the national and local governments are left with no other reasonable course but to contain the COVID-19 ailment.
She took exception of the act of an unidentified top provincial official who categorically instructed the local chief executive to honor an identification card (ID) in lieu of a municipal pass and a health certificate considering the traveler from outside of Alfonso Lista is a food handler. Haven’t it crossed the minds of those in the officialdom that what primarily matters is the health of the driver or the food handler. The product in transit is just secondary. Common sense tells that it isn’t otherwise. Delivery trucks are subject to flat tires and other mechanical damages. But delivery trucks don’t die- only human beings do.!
No one dared to rebut the views of Dr. Guillen. Many in the crowd even nodded. Sadly, her plea fell on deaf ears. The end result: Getting in and out is as easy as can be by simply showing an ID, maybe even a fake ID. Consequently, the health risk increases. Who is to be blamed?
Even Dr, Sevilleja acknowledged the lack of supplies and manpower at the 25-bed level 1 hospital.
All told, the meeting only brought forth more questions than answers. At hand, is the issue of balancing the need to enforce the “community quarantine” at every corner, barangay, purok and sitio of Alfonso Lista, most especially at boundary or border posts on one hand, and meeting the food requirements of a beleaguered town.
A punong barangay went to a never-ending Q & A (question and answer) spree over seemingly less important matters. This resulted in non-discussion of COVID-19 test kits’ availability in Alfonso Lista. How many persons under monitoring (PUMs) and persons under investigation (PUIs) are there in the town? No one really knows. Perhaps, it was the least of some of the punong barangays’ concerns.
Not for Punong Barangay Jesus Toribio of Calupaan who urged the cooperation of all villagers to address the COVID-19 problem. Likewise, Punong Barangay Alona Cadeliña of Barangay Dolowog sounded the need for 100% compliance with the quarantine regulations.
While the DTI has pledged to strictly enforce the government’s price freeze policy, some unscrupulous traders continue to rake in “huge earnings” by increasing the prices of some goods at the expense of the cash-starved public.
If and only if Alfonso Lista, as well as the other ten towns of Ifugao, are self-sufficient in food, there’s no need whatsoever to be worrisome at this point. An order was then issued by Mayor Alipio for the barangay councils to immediately coordinate with the local office of the interior department and send communication to the National Food Authority (NFA) Office in Santiago City, Isabela for acquisition of the so-called “NFA rice,” the government rice priced at Php 27 a kilo. Immediately, Sta. Maria Punong Barangay Billy Gonsadan placed an order of 20 cavans for his barangay mates.
Gonsadan, also the ABC president and concurrent Councilor, aired the resonating fear of the 20-member Liga. In an exclusive interview with the ZigZag Weekly, he pointed out that “we are running out of funds to buy relief goods for our constituents.”
Earlier, Mayor Alipio, in a separate interview, confided to this scribe that the instructions of Governor Jerry Dalipog principally anchored on using first barangay government funds, then rely on funds from the Office of the Mayor and finally tapping the funds of the Office of the Governor.
Ironically, the meeting hardly tackled the issue on the usage of quick response funds (QRFs). Local government units, as the town’s 20 barangay councils, are to utilize their QRFs to purchase food packs for identified indigent families. The village chieftains are tasked to closely coordinate with their mayors to immediately provide assistance to the said families. Mayors are directed to coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for any augmentation to fully provide for the needs of the city or municipality. Under the law, governors are also directed to assist the LGUs within their areas of jurisdiction in fulfilling this task.
It is worth pointing out that the provincial government’s QRF was hardly used during the incumbency of Governor Pedro Mayam-o, the predecessor of Governor Dalipog. Mayam-o failed to declare a “state of calamity” during a super typhoon that hit the province some years back.
The last thing Alfonso Lista folk want is for highly-placed officials of the provincial government to consider them tail-enders jn the “dole-outs” list. With the highest number of persons under monitoring (PUMs) in the province, Alfonso Lista should be highly-prioritized. After all, the town has the most populous town in the province.
The provincial government has plenty of resources. It has plenty of blessings and joy to share to the impoverished folk of Alfonso Lista- municipal government officials out here just have to make a 911 (Patrol 117) call to Governor Dalipog now! A text or better still, a call answers the question if and when at least two trucks of relief goods are coming to Alfonso Lista.
In a related development, the Alfonso Lista Multi-purpose Cooperative (ALMPC) has distributed 600 bags of relief goods to its members in Alfonso Lista. A bag has eight kilos of rice, canned goods and noodles.
The ALMPC is one of the most active cooperatives in the Cordillera Administrative Region. It is headed by Irene Prudenciano.
Get to know how a well-meaning cooperative prepares for an emergency period, and provide assistance to members’ need for goods or cash during trying times. There is, then, an ongoing cycle of keeping the humanitarian mission alive- each organization in the private sector must take up the mantle and make it their own. This early, the ALMPC has displayed remarkable leadership and creativity in confronting some of the most challenging issues to Filipinos in this COVID-19 crisis. **By Anthony A. Araos
