Low turnout for rapid tests in Inayawan and Basak Pardo

The turnout of the rapid test in Barangay Inayawan was only 63 individuals out of 700 test targets. | Photo Courtesy of Barangay Inayawan

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The first day of the rapid test did not gather the expected number of respondents in Barangays Inayawan and Basak Pardo.

Inayawan Barangay Captain Kirk Bryan Repollo told CDN Digital that only 63 individuals out of the 700 target individuals were tested by the three City Health medical teams assigned to the barangay.

The village chief said there were hesitations from the residents who were listed as the target test subjects because of issues on gloves, personal protective equipment, and the safety of the test.

Despite the initiative of the barangay to buy gloves for each resident, ensuring social distancing, and disinfection of the sports gym, Repollo said they still refused to undergo the test.

There were also problems with the list as some of them were not residents of the barangays and others were even dead.

“So amo gibuhat is amo gipangita sa among lists of registered voters kung asa nga sitio sila.. naa uban nga wala sa list of registered voters namo, naay uban nga namatay na and naa sad uban wala na diri magpuyo sa amo,” said Repollo.

(So what we did, we looked for the list of our registered voters and their sitios. There are a lot in the list of target subjects who are not in our list, some have died, while some others no longer live here.)

The barangay had some volunteers that made it possible for the City Health to still get samples.

Still, Repollo said the test was very challenging since the people themselves are apprehensive with the test.

For Basak Pardo Captain Lenny Cabardo, she said the barangay did not receive the list.

The Mayor’s Information and Liaison Office (MILO) received the list and coordinated with the residents. This despite the instruction of Mayor Edgardo Labella that barangays should handle the test coordinations.

Cabardo said there were only 55 individuals who were tested and most of them were volunteers and some actual random residents from the lowlands.

She said that the barangay barely had the chance to see the list of the residents and was limited to arranging the logistics.

“If we had the list, we could have exerted an effort to encourage the residents,” said Cabardo.

The City Health also conducted the test for two hours and cut off the testing after, something that Cabardo did not understand as two teams were assigned in the barangay.

This lack of coordination between the City Health, the MILO, and the barangay contributed to the low turnout for the rapid tests, the official believed.

She said that the barangay should have been given a chance to handle the list of the target subjects. /rcg