DAVAO CITY, Oct. 15 (PIA) – Jose Abad Santos Mayor Jason John Joyce of Davao Occidental said that the vaccination rate in the municipality has recently improved due to the increased awareness among the constituents on the vaccination campaign against COVID-19.
Although the mayor admitted that there was vaccination hesitancy among their senior citizens, he said that the local government unit and the health care frontliners like the midwives and barangay health workers have never ceased explaining the importance of the vaccination.
“Never tayo nagkaroon ng kakulangan sa mga bakuna mula sa national government. We really appreciate the Duterte presidency for being very efficient in providing vaccines for far flung areas especially in the GIDAs and poor municipalities,” Joyce stated.
The vaccination rollout is ongoing with the help of the Provincial Health Office of Davao Occidental and the Department of Health Region XI, the mayor said during Friday’s (Oct. 15) episode of the Laging Handa Network Briefing with Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar.
On the sudden surge of COVID-19 cases in the municipality, Joyce explained that cases started rising in June this year after the local government relaxed its border protocols.
“For the longest time, we had zero cases from March 2020 to June 2021,” he said, adding “It was June ng unang pumasok ang COVID-19 cases when we allowed entry of our LSIs and ROFs without stringent requirements like RT-PCR, medical certificates, and etc.”
It was also observed that the cases rose when the LGU increased its testing capacity by procuring rapid antigen test kits for faster testing of individuals who have contracted COVID-19.
The Mayor said he had no regrets taking on such move, stating “It just goes to show that our municipality and our LGU is doing its best to do our proper testing, contact tracing and treatment of our people.”
As of October 13, 2021, the Davao Occidental PHO recorded 226 active cases from JAS which represented the highest rate at 62 per cent of the 362 active cases recorded in the entire province.
However, of the total confirmed COVID-19 cases in Davao Occidental, JAS came third with 555 cases as of Wednesday (Oct. 13).
Malita, the capital town, still has the highest recorded cases at 1,215 with 82 active cases, followed by Sta. Maria with 1,119 total cases and eight (8) active cases.
The Municipality of Don Marcelino has registered a total cases of 427 with 43 active cases, while Sarangani island has 154 confirmed cases with three (3) active cases.
Meanwhile, Joyce bared that they have increased their budget allocation next year, from P3 million to P10 million for the LGU’s own cash-for-work program which is similar to the national government’s, as a way of helping the constituents cope up with the impact of the pandemic.
“We don’t have to be fully dependent on the national government. We saw the effectivity of the national government’s solution of providing income-generating activities to our people,” he said.
The Mayor also mentioned that the LGU has been concentrating on granting scholarship program to their students, which has already benefited 600 to 1,000 scholars who are spread across Region 11 and Region 12.
“What’s important is we empower our people for the post pandemic. If our people is empowered, they can also help me empower our municipality,” he stated. (PIA-XI/Carina L. Cayon)
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