BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Doctors’ groups are asking President Duterte and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases to place this city under enhanced community quarantine or ECQ for two weeks to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019.
In a letter to the President, the Canlaon Medical Society and Negros Occidental Medical Society, both affiliates of the Philippine Medical Association, said the battle against COVID-19 is far from over. The Canlaon Medical Society and Negros Occidental Medical Society are headed by Ma. Ivy Malata and Roberto Puerta, respectively. Noting the spike of positive cases in Bacolod, Malata and Puerta said the local transmission is reaching its peak in the past few days. They said some hospitals have reached their full bed capacity for COVID cases and several healthcare workers and frontliners have been confined or home-quarantined. The groups said they are not equipped for a full-scale COVID-19 war, noting the city has only a few hospitals with limited capacity and equipment. “We are a few steps from becoming the next epicenter. We hope you can help us prevent that from happening,” Malata and Puerta said in the letter. Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chair of the local COVID task force, said the national task force has the power to decide on the quarantine status of Bacolod. Mayor Evelio Leonardia ordered the old Bacolod city hall building on Araneta street locked down starting yesterday after some employees got infected with the virus. Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson does not want the province be reverted back to either general or enhanced community quarantine due to economic impact.
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Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia takes his oath of office before Senate President Vicente Sotto III, with his wife Elsa holding the Bible and daughter Loren Kara holding the oath of office during the inauguration of city officials at the Government Center recently. MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte congratulated Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia on his reelection, saying the city is in “safe hands” under his leadership.
“I’m happy that you were elected once again, that Bacolod City is in safe hands,” Duterte said in a video message shown during Leonardia’s inauguration recently. “I wish that you will be in the political arena, maybe a little bit longer to serve the people. That’s what it’s all about, service to the people, nothing more, nothing less,” the President said. Leonardia is the longest-serving mayor of Bacolod. He garnered a record 144,776 votes in the May elections. He had a lead of 63,528 votes over his closest opponent, the biggest margin in Bacolod politics. Duterte also congratulated Leonardia’s partymates – Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and Rep. Greg Gasataya –who also won by big margins over their opponents. Leonardia’s party Grupo Progreso won 14 of the 15 seats, including 11 of the 12 slots for councilors. “The people’s message is clear. They would like to see their city officials working together, cooperating with each other, and living in peace and harmony,” Leonardia said. MANILA, Philippines — Bacolod City Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia won another term in the elections last week, with 144,776 votes, the highest garnered by a local candidate in the city.
Leonardia and his Grupo Progreso partymates – Rep. Greg Gasataya and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran as well as 11 of the 12 winning councilors – were proclaimed on Thursday last week. Leonardia won by 63,528 votes against his closest rival former councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, who got only 81,248 votes. Familiaran got 126,238 votes or a difference of 34,417 over his rival, former vice mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, who got only 91,821 votes. Gasataya garnered 135,346 votes, or a lead of 50,641 over his challenger, former congressman Monico Puentevella, who got only 84,705 votes. Leonardia, a former congresman, was elected to his sixth term as mayor, making him the longest-serving local official of Bacolod. When he ran for councilor in 1988, Leonardia got more than 69,000 votes, which were more than those garnered by the candidates for mayor and vice mayor at the time. When he ran for mayor in 1995, the 84,000 votes that he garnered was also the highest compared to the other candidates. In succeeding elections, Leonardia broke his own records when he got 110,000 votes in 2007 and 120,000 votes in 2016. |
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