Arming barangay health workers

Face masks and hygiene kits are ready for distribution to the barangay health workers and health centers in Las Piñas on March 23 as part of Rep. Camille A. Villar’s assistance to frontliners in the fight against the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

ICCC set up as lodging for Iloilo City’s health workers after reported discrimination

M.TRENAS/ICCC COLLEGE ADMINISTRATOR

THE ILOILO City Community College (ICCC) has been set up as temporary lodging for medical field workers following reported discrimination by their lessors and even eateries. Donations for “mattresses, beddings, pillows, food and water, and other voluntary services” were immediately delivered to ICCC after Mayor Jerry P. Treñas posted a call for help on his Facebook page on March 22. “I have been receiving messages that our fellow Ilonggos in the medical field are being discriminated. Buses reject them, karinderyas (eateries) won’t sell to them, their landlords evicted them. We should not allow this to happen,” he wrote. “Please keep in mind that if they cannot eat or sleep well, they cannot go to work. Who will take care of you if you will be infected? Would you also want them to treat you the same?,” he added. One of the two COVID-19 confirmed cases in Western Visayas Region, as of March 21, is being treated at a hospital in Iloilo City, the regional center. As of March 22, the ICCC had 72 beds available for health workers, particularly for those assigned at the Western Visayas Medical Center, The Medical City, and the West Visayas State University Medical Center. On March 23, another 500 mattresses were donated by Grand Xing and 100 from Dewfoam.

Quarantine island

WESTMINCON

The uninhabited island of Sibakil in Basilan is temporarily serving as quarantine area for some 200 Filipinos, including at least 10 children, who returned from neighboring parts of Malaysia but their boats were denied entry at ports around the western Mindanao area based on COVID-19 protocols. “The military’s intervention was brought about by reports of Filipinos returning from Malaysia. Under the presidential proclamation, we have to accept them, but they have to undergo quarantine procedures,” Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) Commander Lt. Gen. Cirilito E. Sobejana said in a statement. “That is why we organized a team that did the reconnaissance and inspection, and we decided that Sibakil is the most conducive.” Tents, food, hygiene kits, and other basic necessities are being provided by WestMincom, and the Zamboanga Peninsula regional offices of the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The 14-day quarantine started March 20.

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