No more rubbing alcohol? Barangay captains find ways to supply their local communities with the much-needed but highly-scarce disinfectant product that is now flying off supermarket and grocery shelves faster than you can type #coronavirus or say COVID-19.
Clifford ‘Cliff’ Jonson of Barangay 3 Lian, Batangas and Ronald ‘Tatang’ Zulueta of Barangay Parang, Marikina, are taking measures to ensure that people have the essentials they need during the ‘Enhanced Community Quarantine’ imposed by the government amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Moreover, Brgy. Captain Jonson did not even wait for a memo from the municipal government on the 8 pm to 5 am required curfew although he did inform the mayor about his decision to do so. Food donation plans for indigent families within the barangay are also underway. As of this writing, he is also waiting for sanitation resources so he and his staff can proceed with the disinfecting efforts of public areas in the barangay.
Brgy. Captain Zulueta, on the other hand, has got his hands full by mobilizing his local officials and volunteers since last week to participate in the barangay-wide clean-up and disinfection activities starting with local school districts of Parang Elementary School, Campjam Integrated School, Primemont Science School, St. Victoria Montessori School, St. John Bosco Academy, and D.C. Integrated school and My Play Land Learning Center Inc.
The sanitation efforts were also done in local churches and villages, even basketball courts and creeks!
He also made rounds on local grocery stores to monitor commodity prices, and just today offered free tricycle rides ‘LIBRENG HATID’ for local people within the barangay vicinity (giving strict orders to observe social distancing measures).
And that’s not all.
Brgy. Captain Jonson, upon hearing President Duterte’s March 16th announcement, immediately closed down their family’s carwash business despite it being a main source of income for them and their employees’ families.
“Ayaw man namin pero kailangang sumunod at dapat ang pamilya ko ay maunang magpakita ng halimbawa”, Jonson explained to Good News Pilipinas. “Nauunawaan ito ng aming mga tauhan at kanya-kanyang sikap para makahanap ng ibang pagkakakitaan pansamantala lamang”, he added.
Even Brgy. Captain Zulueta’s mother’s laundry shop has ceased operations since Monday. It recently celebrated its first anniversary but the family decided to celebrate indoors.
“May panahon para magnegosyo at matuwa sa mga milestones sa buhay pero pwede naming ipagpaliban yun”, Zulueta told Good News Pilipinas. “Mas prayoridad natin ngayon ang kaligtasan ng ating mga kabarangay”, he added.
The Philippine government has called out all barangay captains to fulfill their mandatory duty to work with the government when the president announced the “Enhanced Community Quarantine” over the whole island of Luzon from March 16 until April 12, 2020.
More Bayanihan spirit initiatives have sprouted all over the country, among them, UP Diliman students who collaborated to design easy-setup sanitation tents for free. In Palawan, JC Enon and the JCI youth civic group created face shields from plastic bottles and acetate to donate to health workers and frontliners in the fight against COVID-19.
A PNU chemist went on television to teach people how to make homemade disinfectant, while Filipino restaurants are sending free breakfast, food packs, snacks to hospital workers.
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to barangay captains who are fulfilling their duties to help their communities survive the quarantine to stop the spread of COVID-19!
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