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Bacolod City seeks coordination from community pantry organizers

By Nanette Guadalquiver

April 21, 2021, 2:37 pm

<p>(File image courtesy of Bacolod City PIO) </p>

(File image courtesy of Bacolod City PIO) 

BACOLOD CITY – The Emergency Operations Center Task Force (EOC-TF) has encouraged organizers of community pantries here amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic to coordinate their initiatives with the city government.

City administrator Em Ang, who sits as the EOC-TF executive director, said on Wednesday as people are expected to gather to avail of free goods, health protocols such as physical distancing and wearing of face mask and face shield are sometimes not followed.

“The intention is really good. The effect is really good. However, it has become a problem for many local government units, especially in Metro Manila. Although its effect is good since it can help many people, the downside of it, is it becomes a ‘superspreader’ event,” Ang said in a radio interview.

She added that the EOC-TF has been discussing the regulatory policy for community pantries.

“There is a need to regulate this. If not, it may create a problem that could start an outbreak of cases and cause sporadic cases in the barangays,” Ang said.

She pointed out that coordination with the city government is for “monitoring and supervision” purposes.

“The EOC has a monitoring team. Just to make sure so we can notify the police stations in the area to also monitor them so that things will not go out of control,” she said.

In Bacolod, almost 10 community pantries have been opened in various areas since Monday, and more are expected to open in the coming days, based on announcements posted on Facebook.

Some of these are in Barangay 7, Barangay 36, Barangay 27, Barangay 38, Barangay Taculing, Barangay Mandalagan, Barangay Villamonte, and Barangay Granada.

On April 20, Bacolod logged 37 Covid-19 new cases and 11 new recoveries. It has total cumulative cases of 6,816 cases, of which 691 are active. (PNA)

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