ILOILO CITY, Sept. 18 (PIA) -- Cebu's Project Balik Buhay (PBB) generated positive response when it was presented to government officials, local chief executives and various sectors in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.
The PBB aims to provide a balance between having businesses reopen and addressing the risks of COVID-19 amid its continuing threat in the city and the province.
PBB experts, composed of Cebuano businessman Edmun Liu, together with infectious diseases expert Dr. Brian Lim, and Department of Health-VII chief pathologist Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, flew to Bacolod City, September 9, to discuss the Project, a press release from the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) said.
The three experts shared the concept and methods of PBB and how it will help the economy to “re-open gradually and safely as well as avoid exceeding the healthcare capacity.”
Liu presented the concept of PBB and how it helped the business sector in Cebu.
Health protocols in the workplace are the main topic of Dr. Lim while Dr. Loreche shared the importance of health protocols in both the public and private sectors.
The PBB presentations of the three experts garnered a good response from the sectors who attended the said conference.
After listening to the experts, Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez also felt optimistic that the PBB could help businessmen reopen the economy safely.
In May, the OPAV, in collaboration with the tri-cities of Cebu, the Department of Health (DOH) 7 and the private sector, launched the PBB, starting with the conduct of a prevalence survey in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
The survey aimed to test 10 percent of the total population of all barangays in the three cities to determine the presence and rate of transmission of the SARS CoV2 virus in the community.
Following the guidelines of the PBB, Cebu's business sector was able to open their businesses through a calibrated, scientific, and evidence-based transition from Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) to General Community Quarantine.
The meeting with the PBB experts was conducted upon the request of the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental.
The conference was attended by Anti-COVID-19 National Task Force Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., Presidential Assistant Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Bacolod
City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Representative Benitez, and former Representative and now Provincial Consultant on Economic Affairs Alfredo Abelardo Benitez.
OPAV, together with DOH-7, has been supporting and helping Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to capacitate their molecular laboratories – Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Hospital Laboratory and the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni ProvincialHospital Laboratory.
Both OPAV and DOH-7 agreed that improving the contact tracing activities in each LGU will greatly help in fighting the pandemic.
Just this month, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, in coordination with OPAV, sent two teams to Bacolod City to conduct training for contact tracing.
Cebu is now under the Modified General Community Quarantine for more than three months since the PBB was implemented in Metro Cebu. (PIA6/Story and photos by OPAV)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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