BACOLOD CITY – The 145-member League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) called on President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to extend the declaration of the state of calamity in the country due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis until June 30, 2022.
The city mayors issued the "humble appeal" in a letter sent by Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, national LCP president, to Duterte dated Sept. 9, a copy of which was furnished to reporters here on Thursday afternoon.
In the letter, Leonardia told the President that extending the state of calamity will “ensure that cities can respond to the threats of Covid-19 and facilitate local economic recovery”.
“[This] will allow cities to implement programs that can lower the current case rates of Covid-19, open more Covid wards and critical care units, contain the surge of the Delta variant, and could supplant the requirements of the ongoing vaccine rollout,” he added.
Presidential Proclamation 1021, which originally extended the state of calamity “for a period of one year", or from Sept. 13, 2020 to Sept. 12, 2021, will expire soon, but it may also be “extended as circumstances may warrant”.
“If not extended, this will cripple the ability of cities to respond to Covid-19,” Leonardia further said in the letter.
He noted that the authority of the local government units (LGUs) to utilize the development funds, special education funds, local disaster risk and reduction funds, and other available local resources to undertake critical, urgent, and appropriate disaster response aid and eliminate the threat of Covid-19 depends on the continuing existence of a state of calamity.
“Without such declaration, the LGUs are constrained to work with limited funding for their Covid-19 programs and related expenses,” he added.
Leonardia also assured Duterte that city mayors “are committed to working closely with the President’s Office and relevant national agencies to ensure that we will overcome this pandemic soonest.”
In March last year, Duterte signed Proclamation 929 that placed the entire Philippines under a state of calamity for six months due to the Covid-19 health crisis. (PNA)
