NOBODY likes the idea of COVID-19. But if there’s something that is good about the global pandemic scare, Filipinos have proven to be geniuses when it comes to crisis planning, management and implementation of strategies seen to keep us all standing after the great plague.
However, things would have been worse if not for the local government units at the forefront of the national health emergency.
The mere fact that the Philippines is an archipelago of 7,100 plus islands requires micro-management amid scattered islands politically subdivided into 17 regions, 243 congressional districts, 81 provinces, 146 cities, 1,488 municipalities and over 42,000 barangays. This alone somehow indicates a wide variation of culture, making it extremely impossible to make things done without local conduits.
The Year That Was
Since the onset of COVID-19 in the Philippines in March of last year, it has always been the local government units at the front line of war against an unseen enemy that has wreaked havoc not just on the aspect of public health. It has also unleashed its fury to the detriment of economy and employment among many other aspects affecting the lives of over 108 million Filipinos.
The good news though is that the local government units responded accordingly, local officials doing their mandate and the local folks adhering to local approaches.
• March – Lockdown took effect. It was during these trying times that people were made to comply with a “fervent request” to stay at home, at least be confined in their compounds, while the LGUs found ways to provide their constituents with modest necessities. It was in this toughest time that the local officials underscored the need for “Bayanihan” in every essence of its word. Local businessmen promptly heeded call for them to do their share by way of donating “a little of whatever in excess they have for charity.”
• April – LGUs mandated the use of face masks as a form of personal protective equipment to avoid catching the virus. To ensure compliance, LGUs and barangay units deployed marshals and rolling barkers informing local folks on what they should know—the risks and avoiding being infected. Simultaneously, the LGUs started going house-to-house distributing food packs in an earnest effort to lessen their burden on an imminent hunger as most were rendered jobless in view of the government-imposed lockdown to prevent being infected by what was then a virus at its fiercest form. Interestingly, there are LGUs which distributed food packs they bought from local farmers, fishermen and livestock growers.
• May – The national government finally released the first tranche of the Social Amelioration Program, financial assistance promised by President Rodrigo Duterte to the poorest of the poor. The country’s 42,000 plus barangay units administered the distribution of the cash aid. It was also at this time of the year that the LGUs introduced rolling and online public markets, online help desks, the backyard farming, among other suitable ideas apt for the local setting.
• June – The national government, on a strong public clamor, eased community quarantine restrictions to keep the economy afloat. It was then that the LGUs started crafting local guidelines for a limited gradual resumption of business activities to jump-start the local economy and livelihood of their constituents. Local public transportation was allowed on a limited capacity. Notably, a lakeshore local government unit in Rizal Province complemented transportation by providing bicycles which residents may use in going to and from work.
• July – Amid the surge of local infections, the local government units ramped up its testing capability, provided isolation and quarantine facilities, boosted government hospitals’ capabilities by investing in medical logistics and healthcare workers. To prevent further spread of the virus, LGUs also started going digital in the aspect of local governance. It was also in this time of the year that some local government units, citing the need to keep their places free from virus contamination, imposed strict border measures embarking on mandatory quarantine for returning constituents under the national government’s Balik-Probinsya Program.
• August – Surge on the number of COVID-19 cases continues, for which reason LGUs boosted whatever they have started from the onset of the pandemic. To ensure viability of local approaches, provincial, city and municipal councils enacted ordinances which include mandatory use of face masks and the need to fill up tracking forms whenever one enters an establishment—public and private. LGUs eventually upgraded its manual tracking form to a mobile digital application which to date remains in use.
• September – Taking cue from President Duterte’s Proclamation No. 1021, extending the state of calamity “for a period of one year, effective 13 September 2020 to 12 September 2021, unless earlier lifted or extended as circumstances may warrant, local government units forged partnership with the national government agencies to mobilize resources “to undertake critical, urgent, and appropriate disaster response aid and measures in a timeline manner to curtail and eliminate the threat of COVID-19.” Law enforcement agencies, with the support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, were also directed to continue implementing measures “to ensure peace and order.” The measure allowed LGUs to access their quick response funds to respond to the health crisis.
• October – The local government units have expressed alarm over figures showing 314,079 confirmed COVID-19 infections, as per Johns Hopkins University’s virus tracker which identified the Philippines as among 20 countries with the most COVID-19 cases worldwide. The Philippines was also recorded as the country with the longest lockdown in the world. It was also during this month that the President heeded on the unsolicited suggestions from local government organizations wanting government-to-government transactions on the procurement of coronavirus vaccines, saying that transacting with private firms may result in anomalies.
• November – The country’s local government organizations comprising 81 provincial governors, 146 city mayors, 1,488 municipal mayors, and over 42,000 barangay chairmen, welcomed the designation of National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. as the country’s vaccine czar.
• December – Heeding calls from local chief executives, President Duterte, through Health Secretary Francisco Duque, rejected Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano’s proposal to allow minors to go outside their homes and, much more, go to malls, saying that minors are not immune from infection and could also be spreaders of the virus. The decision is an offshoot of Metro Manila mayors’ consensus not to allow minors aged 17 years old and below to leave their homes and visit shopping malls while GCQ is still in effect. Before the close of the year, LGUs and private firms have announced signing deals with British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca for the procurement of vaccines. Among the first LGUs to act on securing equitable share of vaccines for their constituents include: Angono, Taytay, Cainta and Antipolo City in Rizal, Bacolod City, Bacoor City, Baguio City, BARMM, Caloocan City, Cavite and Cebu City.
The Year After
In January this year, more LGUs eventually secured COVID-19 vaccine supply deals following the pronouncement of President Duterte authorizing them to use their Internal Revenue Allotment for that particular purpose.
From there, LGUs started mobilizing their medical community for the crafting and preparation of local vaccine plans in anticipation of the delivery of supplies in the form purchased doses and donations from international biopharmaceutical firms behind the development of COVID-19 vaccines for the use of priority sectors identified by the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
In Rizal Province, LGUs were able to prepare what is required in time for the arrival of vaccines —Local Vaccination Plan, digital registration system for vaccine recipients, fully-equipped Vaccination Centers, Observation and Recovery facilities, pool of local medical professionals volunteering to administer the vaccination process.
Vaccines Finally Arrive
With the availability of COVID-19 vaccines developed by international biopharmaceutical firms, the national government has expressed high hopes on ending the pandemic that has so far infected 640,984 Filipinos [as of March 20, 2021] and a death toll pegged at 12,887 individuals.
So are the local government units itching to culminate on the vaccination process deemed as essential for them to be able to restore normalcy in their respective localities.
Noble Ideas, Best Practices
But even before the healing process comes to a close, there are several local government units which have somehow left an imprint of efficiency at a time when it mattered most.
Without actually mentioning names, they are the LGUs behind the following ideas:
• E-Palengke or Online Palengke considerably reduced the need to go outside as residents can simply order what they need online through a Facebook group/page created by the local government and its private partners. While residents are allowed to go outside to buy food and other essentials under the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, going out still poses a great risk. Binangonan, Rizal’s e-Palengke not just solved the problem of decongesting public and private markets, but also gave the opportunity for market vendors to sell their goods.
• Multi-Purpose Mobile Registration App was launched to aid Pasig City’s effort in identifying the target beneficiaries of the LGUs and provide real-time information to its constituents. Due to the government-imposed restrictions, LGUs managed to sustain provision of aid and assistance to different households including the vulnerable sector. The app allows the LGUs to access necessary information of their people, such as number of people per household and its corresponding address. It also allows systematic facilitation of accurate allocation of relief packages, faster distribution of goods and also provides real-time announcement on schedule of distribution of goods for the citizens. The app also promotes transparency and accountability as it informs the local government whether the individuals have received what have been allotted for them.
• Virtual COVID-19 Emergency Helpdesk is primarily designed to help address local concerns. It is more like a call center facility wherein callers will be received by hotline operators jotting down and promptly forwards them to the appropriate office for immediate action. It also answers basic inquiries on COVID-19. Under this mechanism, local folks get to be heard and assisted without leaving their homes.
• Candaba, Pampanga’s Adopt-A-Family Project is basically putting into practice the virtue of sharing and showing compassion to others in distress in view of the difficulties due to the pandemic. It doesn’t require one to feed the entire barangay—just one family for every philanthropist. In Central Luzon, a town launched an advocacy for the well-off families to adopt indigent families and sustain their food and other necessities for the whole duration of the government-imposed restriction. The idea worked as well-to-do families opted to “adopt” quite a number of hungry families. The advocacy later on reached other places outside the region.
• The practice of waiving salaries in favor of those who need them more than they do has become contagious. News reports at the height of the government-imposed stringent lockdowns saw a long list of local officials donating their monthly salary to their poor constituents, while others deemed it proper to divert their remuneration to the local coffers so they would be able to buy more medical logistics required in the local COVID-19 response. Aside from waiving his salary, Gapan City Mayor Emerson Pascual also pooled personal resources to defray the cost of preventing his constituents from getting hungry.
• The use of herbal teas to boost the immune system has long been a practice that was sidelined by the emergence of expensive commercially available supplemental capsules in both the traditional and online markets. In a locality in the Southern Tagalog region is a town where youth leaders launched community-based tea drinking stations. Young leaders forming part of the Dingalan Sangguniang Kabataan cited the need for ascorbic acid or Vitamin C and other multivitamins without really spending much to be able to keep one’s immune system in its top form. Their pick—malunggay, which is abundantly available everywhere.
• E-Botika is also another way for the Binangonan LGU to keep the elders away from any sickness by providing them with free medicines by just chatting on the LGU-designated Facebook Page and in matter of hours, free medicines are delivered right on their doorsteps by motorcycle riders hired by the LGU. As Binangonan municipal administrator Russel Callanta Ynares would put it, “PM is the key.”
• PPE-Manufacturing became the most logical option of the local leaders of Taytay, it being the garments capital of the Philippines, as a means to keep their major industry afloat even under the government-imposed restrictions. Taytay LGU enjoined local garments manufacturers to produce face masks, face shields for the local residents and reusable personal protective equipment for the use of the millions of healthcare workers across the archipelago. The LGU facilitated orders while garment manufacturers supply the demand. Working hand in hand, Taytay managed to keep their major livelihood afloat.
• Online Festivities has become the alternative for most local government units shunning the idea of cancelling an annual tradition. By doing so, the LGU gets to keep their place safe from becoming a super spreader while simultaneously sustaining the tradition as their platform to promote their livelihood, local tourism, talent showcase, among many other notable factors for which their locality is known for and can probably offer.
The last 12 months may have been the toughest of times for the local government units in the country. But looking at the brighter side, the local folks get to identify leaders from just politicians.
Hopefully, everything would look better in due time—yes, in due time, because getting over from one nightmare does not necessarily mean overnight.