With 240 community kitchens, the first accredited test hub in Region 6, and a frontliners-first policy, Iloilo is turning out to be a model city in the fight against COVID-19. By RHICK LARS VLADIMER ALBAY

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – While many continue to be increasingly frustrated by the national government’s unclear plans toward handling the coronavirus pandemic, the Ilonggos have remained fairly optimistic about how the health crisis will be handled in their city.

This is in large part due to its Mayor Jerry Treñas who seems to be doing everything in his capacity to keep the tide of COVID-19 at bay. To name a few of the initiatives the mayor has taken, there’s the imposition of a preventive enhanced community quarantine, the establishment of community kitchens around the city to feed the constituents of each barangay, plus his plea for mass testing in Iloilo is now backed with financial support from affluent local businessmen.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas.

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Treñas’s leadership style and approach to the current crisis has earned him raves and support in and outside his bailiwick. Netizens have bestowed the city with phrases like “the Republic of Iloilo City,” “a country of its own within a country,” and the “Wakanda of the Philippines.”

Indeed, Iloilo is quickly emerging as a model city when it comes to its response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. “These are extraordinary times. We are at war with something we cannot see. We have to meet this challenge with extraordinary measures as well,” Treñas told ANCX Thursday, April 2.

Iloilo City’s major thoroughfares are largely empty due to the city-wide enhanced community quarantine.

‘Frontliners first’

As of that date, Iloilo City has three confirmed COVID-19 cases and one dead. To keep this statistic at low numbers, Treñas knows fully well the city must protect the welfare of the city’s frontliners.

In the wake of the Department of Health’s announcement of the city’s first COVID-19 positive case in late March, employees of Iloilo’s The Medical City hospital faced discrimination amid reports that the patient was confined at their facility. Some 50 staff members of the hospital were barred from their boarding houses by their respective landlords, refused by eateries and sari-sari stores, and turned away from public transport.

To date, the mayor told ANCX, the city has raised around P1.5 million to purchase and produce PPEs and make them readily available to all the city’s frontliners.

Treñas took immediate steps to remedy the situation, establishing Iloilo City College as a temporary dorm for health care workers and other frontliners that need a place to stay, also ensuring that shuttle services were made available to the Ilonggo nurses and doctors to transport them to their work places.

In the week that followed, Treñas spurred the city council to amend the existing “anti-discrimination ordinance” to include a provision that forbids businesses from ostracizing individuals due to their jobs.

Aside from its 240 community kitchens that feed underprivileged families in the grassroots, Treñas has also put up a dedicated kitchen that feeds some 1,700 frontliners around the city every day.

Calling frontliners as “modern day heroes,” Treñas continues to be a staunch champion of the welfare of Ilonggo workers in the medical field. “It is [our] sworn duty to provide protection for all our doctors. I do not want to see another doctor die because of the lack of proper PPEs (personal protective equipment).”

To date, the mayor told ANCX, the city has already raised around Php 1.5 million to purchase and produce personal protective equipment and make them readily available to all the city’s frontliners.

Aside from its 240 community kitchens that feed underprivileged families in the grassroots of the city, Treñas has also put up a dedicated kitchen that feeds some 1,700 frontliners around the city every day. Lauding the Iloilo City mayor’s foresight, Senator Franklin Drilon earlier this week donated P1.5 million to go to sustaining the city’s food and relief efforts.

‘Stopped in its tracks’

Treñas was one of the first mayors in the country to impose an enhanced community quarantine on his locality, laying down Executive Order 55-2020 on March 20 as a preventive measure to stop the spread of COVID-19 in its tracks — this was before the city registered its first confirmed case of novel coronavirus.

What’s more impressive though is the fact that, as early as January this year, Treñas and Iloilo Provincial Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. had already called on Cebu Pacific Airlines to immediately suspend its direct flights from the Iloilo International Airport to Hong Kong, and vice versa, as China was quickly emerging as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

City Hall has enlisted the firetrucks of the Bureau of Fire Protection and privately-run local firefighting groups Federation Iloilo Fire Brigade and the Iloilo Citizens Action Group (ICAG) to patrol the city’s mayor thoroughfares every night and spray them with a disinfectant solution.

Just this Thursday, Treñas signed EO No. 60-2020, requiring all Ilonggos to wear face masks when out in public, to limit the potential spread of novel coronavirus. Iloilo has also begun its nightly rally to sanitize the city’s streets, an endeavor led by the City Health Office. City Hall has enlisted the firetrucks of the Bureau of Fire Protection and privately-run local firefighting groups, Federation Iloilo Fire Brigade and the Iloilo Citizens Action Group (ICAG), to patrol the city’s major thoroughfares every night and spray them with a disinfectant solution.

The City Hall is fully coordinating with the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Philippine Coastguard, and the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) to establish border controls and strategic checkpoints, as well as implement the measures of the ECQ.

A ship owned by the John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University – currently docked at Iloilo River Wharf in Muelle Loney, City Proper – has also been lent to the city as temporary lodging for the city’s first responders and medical frontliners.

In an innovative move, a ship owned by the John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University – currently docked at Iloilo River Wharf in Muelle Loney, City Proper – has also been lent to the city as temporary lodging for the city’s first responders and medical frontliners. The ship’s central location lends ease and accessibility to the city’s footmen during this pressing time.

‘Mass testing now’

Mayor Treñas is one of the loudest proponents of mass testing for COVID-19 in the region, seeing it as the only means for the city to get a clear picture of the extent of the virus’s spread in the city.

Treñas collaborated with scientists and medical professionals from the University of the Philippines Visayas alumni community in March to champion the establishment of a local test hub in Iloilo City at the West Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao district. The facility finally came to fruition in late March, with DOH officially accrediting WVMC as the first test hub in Region 6.

DOH and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine has allotted 5,000 test kits to run the facility, but Treñas believes this is not yet enough to push for “aggressive” mass testing in Iloilo.

Thankfully, a group of prominent Ilonggo businessmen have pooled P5.5 million to purchase 2,500 FDA-approved tests kits from South Korea, with the encouragement of the public servant.

Treñas told ANCX that the shipment is set to arrive in Iloilo next week. With this first batch of test kits the city mayor hopes to cooperate with the DOH and the RITM to conduct widespread testing in Iloilo City as soon as possible.

‘Stronger Together’

Despite all his efforts, Treñas doesn’t want to take sole credit when it comes to the fight against the threat of COVID-19 in Iloilo. “Hindi ko ni tanan makaya kung ako lang isa pero kay ara ang mga Ilonggo tanan malampuwasan gid naton ni!” the veteran politician said. (“I couldn’t have done all of this alone, but with the help and cooperation of every Ilonggo I know we can get through this difficult time together.”)

Treñas said city hall has received around PhP15 million worth of donations in kind, from sacks of rice to canned goods and other food packs, all of which have been funneled to the city’s community kitchens and barangays for distribution. The city opened its doors to aid and donations as early as the second week of March and the robust support from the Ilonggos and the private sector has not ceased since.

To fast-track its supply operations, city hall has established centrally located Jaro Gym as its Relief Operations headquarters, with some 8,225 sacks of rice and 1,652 boxes of canned goods and noodles awaiting delivery to the city’s districts.

To fast-track its supply operations, city hall has established the centrally located Jaro Gym as its Relief Operations headquarters, with some 8,225 sacks of rice and 1,652 boxes of canned goods and noodles awaiting delivery to the city’s districts.

“Our goal is for no Ilonggos to go hungry during this time of crisis,” Treñas told ANCX. “It seems like a difficult task but what I’ve learned is mamag-an lang siya kung tanan kita magbinuligay kag kung mag sige sige ta binuligay.” (“What I’ve learned is the burden of this task has become manageable with all the support and help of the Ilonggos.”)

Asked to comment on the many statements of praise the city has been getting, Treñas puts the spotlight on the Ilonggo character. “Is it because we are the ‘City of Love?’ And the malambing Ilonggos are naturally giving? For me, I believe that Iloilo is different because of its people,” said the mayor. “Us Ilonggos always look out for each other, and we are the kind of people who stand tall and remain steafast. I know if we will just work together and be here for each other, we will be able to overcome this crisis together.”

Photographs from Iloilo City Government page