Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Chief Implementer for the Visayas Melquiades Feliciano. (Photo courtesy of IATF)
CEBU CITY – The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) will establish a coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) Playbook Academy here and in Bacolod City.
OPAV Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales said in a statement on Tuesday that the academy will serve as a learning hub for the best practices in addressing the Covid-19 crisis.
Gonzales said the proposed academy will be headed by Melquiades Feliciano, the chief implementer of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for the Visayas.
“Before, there’s no playbook yet for Covid not until (ret.) General Mel came to Cebu and successfully helped the LGU manage Covid. This is why General Mel came to Bacolod to apply the same equation to Bacolod based on the Cebu experience,” he said.
Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, OPAV head, has called on other Visayas provinces and cities to implement the Covid Playbook for their anti-coronavirus measures.
“The Covid Playbook will help LGUs (local government units) in containing the spread of the virus. With lower Covid-19 cases, LGUs can safely reopen and revive their economy,” Dino said in the same statement.
Gonzales said the crucial part of the playbook is the establishment of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC), a concept pioneered by Feliciano in Cebu City at the height of the health crisis there in June.
The Bacolod City LGU created its EOC in early September upon the recommendation of Feliciano.
The Playbook, Gonzales said, worked well in Cebu and Bacolod, and they have a plan to replicate it in the rest of the Visayas. (PNA)
