Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 17) — A lawmaker urged the national government to provide financial assistance to Cagayan de Oro residents and boost its medical workforce following the decision to put the province under the strictest quarantine status.
Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to extend financial aid amounting to ₱6,000 for each family affected by the hard lockdown.
On Friday, the government placed Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo City, and Iloilo province under enhanced community quarantine until end-July.
“Now under ECQ, people are required to stay home, will not be able to work and they will not have the income to purchase food and other basic necessities for their families for the next two weeks from July 16 to July 31. In view of the same, may I request for cash assistance of ₱6,000 for each family in Cagayan de Oro since it is already under ECQ,” he said in his letter to Duterte.
The same request was sent to Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista.
Rodriguez also asked Health chief Francisco Duque lll to equip the healthcare system of Cagayan de Oro with medical experts on the Delta coronavirus variant.
This is “to assist the city in implementing the proper steps to prevent the outbreak of the Delta variant,” the lawmaker said in his letter to Duque.
Rodriguez said Cagayan de Oro is now “the battleground of this Delta variant,” as he stressed the need to ramp up vaccine supply in the city.
On Friday, the DOH said five cases of the Delta variant were detected in Cagayan de Oro.
Also on Saturday, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas branded the decision of the government to impose ECQ on the city as “unjustified and unfair” to his constituents.
“How will the Ilonggos eat if for 14 days they will not be allowed to work due to Delta variant patients discovered in Pandan, Antique on May 8. If the reason for the lockdown is preparatory and preemptive for the Delta variant, then perhaps it is not in Iloilo City that the lockdown should be made,” Treñas said in a statement on his Facebook page.
“500,000 Ilonggos or a portion thereof will go hungry for the next two weeks. The city will try to do its best to give our food assistance in the meantime,” the official added.
