Baguio, Benguet mayors set strict Covid-19 rules

By Lyndon B. Daroya

BAGUIO CITY – Mayors of this summer capital and adjacent Benguet towns have decided measures to abate rising Covid-19 infections.
    Baguio and BLISTT (Baguio-La Trinidad- Itogon- Sablan- Tuba- Tublay) mayors agreed to tighten border check-points on Sundays, for BLISTT visitors to undergo triage and antigen testing in Baguio prior to allowing their entry to the LISTT municipalities and for BLISTT to continue mobility restrictions and enforce strict market schedules.
    LISTT mayors to send the heads of their municipal committees on health and municipal health offices to a workshop to be hosted by the Baguio City government to address recommendations of the University of the Philippines study on compliance to minimum public health standards and for Baguio  to allow access to the LISTT to its cold storage facility for vaccines.
Mayors agreed on this May 14 in a meeting with
    BLISST governing council chairman and Baguio mayor Benjamin Magalong.
    The meeting was called to address new community quarantine classification of the province of Benguet and Baguio City.       Both were put under general community quarantine or GCQ from May 15-31.
    Magalong expressed his gratitude to the LISTT mayors for retaining some of their MECQ guidelines despite being downgraded into GCQ status.
    Baguio City was subjected to a study by the UP on compliance to minimum public health standards.
    The study showed adherence to all MPHS appearED highly challenging for the majority of the respondents with 72 percent not able to comply.
    Non-compliance is highest in the attributes of social distancing practices (58.1%), hygienic practices (32.4%), and face covering practices (24.6%).
    A workshop will be scheduled by the City with LISTT representatives to operationalize the recommendations of the study to common guidelines for implementation in the BLISTT area.
    On aggressive community testing, Magalong as chair of the Council, will coordinate directly with the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) in acquiring RT-PCR test kits for distribution to LISTT local governments to improve detection and mitigate virus transmission within the BLISTT area.
    Personal protective equipment (PPEs) will also be distributed.
    The BLISTT inter-local cooperation is an alliance of local government units to address their common concerns and harmonize development efforts.
    The body has been on the frontlines in coordinating efforts in mitigating the spread of Covid-19 within BLISTT as well as the rest of Cordillera.
    The National Economic Development Authority Cordillera acts as the secretariat for the BLISST governing council.