Cebu City vice mayor Mike Rama. | CDN Digital file
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City welcomes the help of the national government in curbing the cases of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
This was the statement of Vice Mayor Michael Rama, who chairs the City Council’s committee on health, over President Rodrigo Duterte’s move in sending Secretary Roy Cimatu of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to assess the COVID-19 situation in Cebu City.
Read: Duterte to send Cimatu to Cebu to monitor COVID-19 situation
Cimatu will now be the Interagency Task Force’s (IATF) representative to oversee the COVID-19 operations here.
Rama said that Cebu City can only accept the national government’s guidance in this dire situation as cases continue to rise, and amidst underreporting of actual cases.
“Pagbisita sa IATF diri, impressive. Pero pag-abot sa ground, dismal,” the vice mayor said.
(When the IATF came here, it was impressive. But when it came to the situation on the ground, it was dismal).
“We are underreporting our cases and we don’t know if how many really is our COVID cases here,” he added.
Rama said Cebuanos are not inherently hard-headed as President Rodrigo Duterte said in his statement to the public on Monday evening, June 22, 2020.
Rama said that Cebuanos have the determination of Lapulapu, the first Filipino hero, and this determination remains, albeit there may be a lack of unity among the people now.
The vice mayor also said the national government dipping into the city’s situation should also be a reminder that the city should have a more focused strategy to solving the pandemic.
“Sige na mig balik-balik ana sa konseho. Unsa ang masterplan sa syudad? Asa ang masterplan? Dapat naa tay masterplan unsaon nato pag go about aning COVID,” said Rama.
(We have been repeating this concern in the council. What is the masterplan? Where is the masterplan. We need a masterplan to go about the COVID operations.) /bmjo