DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines — The local government in this capital city of Negros Oriental is running on a skeleton workforce after seven officials tested positive for COVID-19, while another died shortly after recovering from a recent infection.
Top positions in the city have been rendered vacant after Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo and six of 10 councilors have been infected.
The city’s vice mayor, Alan Gel Cordova, died on Sunday after he collapsed while on his bicycle along the national highway in Barangay Bantayan here.Cordova, 53, had just recovered from COVID-19 when he joined the “Bike for a Cause” in Tanjay City, about 41 kilometers from here.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government, however, assured residents that the Dumaguete City government was functioning even if most of its officials were battling the disease.
“There is no vacuum, as Mayor Remollo and the incoming vice mayor will continue to perform their functions even while under isolation,” said Chico Pastor, the city’s local government operations officer.
Epicenter
He said the top councilor, Karissa Tolentino Maxino, currently in isolation for COVID-19, would take over as vice mayor.
Pastor said the city government and council would be run by a skeleton workforce while work-from-home arrangements had been made as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19.Dumaguete remains as Negros Oriental’s COVID-19 epicenter with 271 active infections, according to the Provincial Health Office.
As of June 1, Negros Oriental recorded 1,228 active cases with 313 new infections, 130 new recoveries and five new deaths.
Despite the reported surge, the province remains under modified general community quarantine, the most relaxed quarantine status, from June 1 to June 30.In two separate statements, the Negros Oriental Medical Society (NOMS) and the Philippine College of Physicians-Negros Oriental chapter (PCP-Negros Oriental) have warned that the local health-care system may collapse if cases continue to rise.
NOMS said residents had to stop holding and attending parties and social gatherings, noting that these had been taking place over the last few months.
PCP-Negros Oriental said hospitals and medical workers had been overwhelmed by the rising COVID-19 cases in the past weeks.
The group said the province’s average daily attack rate was at 8.12 per 100,000 population (still beyond the threshold of 7 per 100,000 population), while hospital bed occupancy was near 100 percent.
“We are asking our local government to take action on a faster rollout of [vaccines], a better implementation of curfews and discipline. We are calling on our local businesses to enforce stricter … rules and have a heightened sense of social responsibility. We are pleading to our fellow Negrenses to be more cognizant of health practices and safety protocols,” PCP-Negros Oriental said in a statement.
“We need to be one in the battle against COVID-19. We need to listen to each other. Our health-care system is screaming and we hope you heed the call,” it added. INQ