TACLOBAN CITY – The suggestion of City Mayor Alfred Romualdez for highly-urbanized cities (HUCs) in the country to implement QR code system was considered favorably by an official of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to help address the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
Romualdez made the suggestion during a virtual Networking Briefing program of Presidential Communication and Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar who had Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya as guest.
“Sana gawing mandatory sa lahat ng HUCs na magkaroon ng QR code because you can monitor the movements of the people” Romualdez said to Usec. Malaya.
“I don’t want to make it difficult for the public but we have to address the issue immediately and make it effective,” Romualdez said.
Replying to the proposal of the city mayor, USec. Malaya said that they will closely study his proposal.
“We will study your proposal closely. I will talk to our regional directors to take a look at this and find a different system for HUCs,” Malaya said.
Malaya added that he will also inform the Inter-Agency Task Force of this suggestion of Mayor Romualdez.
The city government has enforced its own QR Code dubbed as surveillance, contact tracing, analysis, and networking (SCAN) system starting on July 16.
SCAN is a digital platform for COVID-19 surveillance activities for the systematic collection, analysis, storage, and dissemination of information, specifically the name, address, and contact details of the registrant so that public health officers can use the same for immediate responses.
Those who want to enter Tacloban must register online through its Safe City application that can be downloaded for free at https://safecity.tacloban.gov.ph/ or by filling out the registration forms at the village where the person resides and at the border control points for non-residents entering the city.
The registrants are given unique SCAN cards or QR codes that can be scanned as identification before entry at every participating office, establishment, or industry.
Since implementation, all establishments in Tacloban including churches had imposed a “no entry” policy for those who do not have a QR code.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

Cargo vessel sank off the Japanese waters

TACLOBAN CITY- The wife of one of the Filipino seafarers on board of a shipping vessel that capsized off the waters of Japan is seeking help from President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Christopher ‘Bong’ Go.
Elna Garcia, 41 and mother to three young children and from Naval town, Biliran province, made this appeal saying they are confident that her 40-year old husband, Rex, is still alive and could have survived the mishap.
Her husband is among the 40 crew members of MV Gulf 1 declared as missing since the cargo vessel sank off the coast of Japan last Sept. 2. Three of them have been rescued.
“We are calling to Pres. Duterte and to Sen. Bong Go to help us. It’s frustrating because it appears that there is no effort to find my husband and his 39 companions,” Garcia, in an interview through private message of Facebook, said Sunday night.
“We really miss him, especially our one-year old son. Hope we can have him back this Christmas. We keep on praying that he is still alive,” she added.
The distressed wife is also calling the Japanese government through its Coast Guard not to stop their search operation.
Garcia is also seeking help from China, Taiwan, and South Korea saying that her husband and other crew members of the ill-fated ship could have been carried away to their shores by the storm.
The couple has three children aged 14,13 and one and lives in Naval town in Biliran province.
To recall the MV Gulf 1, a Panamanian registered cargo vessel with 43 crew members who are mostly Filipinos, and bound for Jintang, China, sank off the coast of Japan after reportedly losing an engine after it encountered rough seas caused by a typhoon (international name: Maysak) last September 2.
Garcia said that she only learned that the vessel, carrying 6,000 live cows from New Zealand, where her husband of 16 years was on board met a sea accident through social media.
She recalled that the last time she had a video call with her husband was a day before the incident happened.
“I was expecting him to call the following day as he usually do. We waited for his call the entire day only to learn through social media that the vessel has capsized,” she said.
However, on that day that he called her, he said that they were already experiencing the brunt of the typhoon and in fact, things inside the vessel were in already disarray and his feet was hit by a chair and some of its glasses were shattered due to the strong waves and heavy rains spawned by the typhoon.
It was learned that Rex has been a seafarer since 2012 and boarded the ship anew just last July 23 of this year. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will not hamper for them to continue their road projects.
Thus said Emilda Bonifacio, area manager of the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (Pamana)whose projects are mainly located in remote and isolated areas.
Bonifacio said that infrastructure project such as road network is very important not only in times of calamity but also during health crisis such as the current problem on COVID-19 pandemic.
“Accessibility is important in responding to crisis like what we are facing now. We have specific funds for COVID-19 response but this doesn’t mean that we should not continue funding our road projects. How are we going to respond if there is an emergency,” she said.
With efficient access road responding to the needs of patients or transporting patients to a medical facility will be efficient if there is a good access road, Bonifacio stressed.
Bonifacio cites Matuguinao town in Samar province as an example which was only accessible by a five-hour boat ride from Gandara town but could now be reached by less than an hour after their agency funded a road project there.
Pamana has also funded a road project in San Jose de Buan town which is rendered isolated to the rest of Samar province during heavy rains.
Bonifacio added that aside from transporting patients to medical facility, road network is also important in this time of pandemic due to on-going constructions of isolation and quarantine facilities as part of COVID-19 response.
Without road, bringing construction materials will be hard for the project to start, she said.
Bonifacio added that even without pandemic, road is important in bringing services and delivery of farm produce to the markets.
Bonifacio then ask everyone to acknowledge and recognize the effort that the government is doing for the residents living in remote barangays.
Since 2011, the national government has downloaded more than P4.8 billion to the region for funding various infrastructure projects undertaken by Pamana.
At present, there are four on-going road construction projects of the agency which includes the Motiong (Samar)-Silvino Lobos (Northern Samar) road and 14 other multi-year implementation project which includes a bridge in Silvino Lobos.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)