STO. TOMAS CITY- THE provincial government of Batangas is currently looking for measures to prevent the occurrence of possible super-spreader political events in the future, similar to what happened during the recent swing of presidential candidates in Senator Manny Pacquiao and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.
To address the situation, local provincial officials are contemplating on coming up with clear cut and stricter rules that were designed to encourage people to strictly observe established health protocols while still showing support to their candidates.
Sorties
Gov. Hermilando Mandanas who anticipates more national candidates will come in the coming weeks for their campaign sorties, has asked local government and police officials to devise ways on how to accommodate the visitors without sacrificing and compromising public health care system.
“Hindi natin maiiwasan na magpunta ang mga national candidate dito sa ating lalawigan at hindi natin sila pwedeng pagbawalan,” Mandanas admitted even as he hinted at implementing sterner measures.
“But (next time around) we can ask their campaign managers to coordinate first with the provincial police office before conducting campaign sorties in our provincial kasi we can never tolerate a similar incident to happen,” Mandanas added referring to the Moreno and Pacquiao political swings middle of October.
Vote rich
The province of Batangas belongs to Calabarzon region which is considered as one of the country’s three most vote-rich regions.
Registered voters from the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon comprise 11,419,415 of the total number of voters.
The province of Batangas alone has 1,717,292 voters way back in the 2019 mid-term elections and that number may have already considerably increased to at least 2.5 million voters by the end of the extended registration period on October 30, 2021.
Big attraction
That figure is considered as big attraction to political parties and national candidates for it is too big for them to ignore not to mention its proximity to Metro Manila where most national headquarters of presidential candidates are located.
Batangas Provincial Police Office Director Police Colonel Glicerio Cansilao himself admitted police enforcers, some of them were even holding placards bearing “Observe Social Distancing,” got overwhelmed by the human surge during the visit of the two presidentiables.
“The PNP did its job in preventing social distancing,” Mandanas said.
“Lahat po ginawa ang ating makakaya kaya lang tao ayaw talaga. Nagkaroon ng problema sa social distancing,” Cansilao, on his part, said.
“Nagbigay na po tayo ng direktiba sa lahat ng chief of police (COP) ng probinsya na sa lahat ng mga kandidato, as much as possible, ay makipagugnayan sa atin para magawan ng paghahanda anumang activity nila.”
“Sa ating pong mga kandidato na dapat po makipagugnayan sa ating COPs upang mapaghandaan ang kanilang pagbisita,” Cansilao added.
For Mandanas it also a must for all Batangueños to observe the province’s HIM program on Covid which means H – hugas, I – iwas o social distance, at M – magsuot ng mask.
Need for coordination
The governor also stressed the need for campaign managers of national candidates to coordinate with the provincial police office and give the PNP ample time to study their political activities.
“It would also be good for them (national candidates) na seguro umisip ng ibang pamamaraan na hindi matutukso ang ating mamamayan na lumabag sa ating health protocol na napakahalaga,” Mandanas said.
“Dahil kapag nagka-surge na naman tayo (ng Covid) marami ang mawawalan ng trabaho, magugutom ulit.”
“Kaya ipaalalala natin sa atin mga kababayan, sa kalusugan ng bayan disiplina ang kailangan,” Mandanas ended.
Vaccination drive
Meanwhile, vaccination in the province is also in full swing and Cansilao promised to deploy the 77 registered nurse volunteers from the PNP as force multipliers.
Provincial health director Dr. Rose Ozaeta reported that at the moment at least 79,502 Batangueños already have complete vaccination and 879,766 with first doses of Covid vaccine.
Actually, Covid cases in the province are on the wane now.
Record low
Batangas recently logged a record low 46 cases of Covid-19 in months last Wednesday (27 Oct 2021).
The Delta variant emerged in July and by August 31 this year, it was declared by the World Health Organization as the dominant Covid-19 variant in the Philippines.
With it, cases in the province of Batangas rose steadily, and by the last week of September, local government units braced for the worst especially capital Batangas City which peaked at 500+ cases in one single day early this month.
The province’s three other cities in Lipa, Tanauan, and this city (Sto. Tomas) also registered cases by the hundreds.
But now, cases are on the wane amid heightened restrictions, strict observance of minimum health protocols, and massive vaccination rollouts among local government units.
It’s the first time in many months that Batangas LGUs reported single-digit cases of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, the province epidemic surveillance unit said Batangas already has an accumulated 67,976 cases since the March breakout of the virus last year.
For this year, it accrued 56,230 including 3,473 active cases, 50,616 recoveries, and 2,141 deaths.
(IAm/OpBats)