Cebu City ABC president Franklyn Ong. | File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A Cebu City dad is seeking to declare June 7 of every year as a Day of Remembrance for fallen frontliners of the Coronavirus Disease 2019, particularly those in the barangays (villages).
Councilor Franklyn Ong, Cebu City Liga ng mga Barangay (LNB) president and Kasambagan village chief, said in a privilege speech during the City Council’s regular session that the pandemic has taken the lives of many barangay frontliners in the city.
This included Poblacion Pardo’s late Barangay Captain Manolita “Litang” Abarquez, who died on June 7, 2021, due to pneumonia and later found out to have been a case of COVID-19.
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“Sakit pamalandungon ang nahitabo ni Kap Litang, tungod kay dako ang nawala dili lang sa Barangay Poblacion Pardo lakip na sab sa tibuok Dakbayan sa Sugbo,” he said.
(It is painful to think about what happened to Kap Litang, because it was a huge loss not only to Barangay Poblacion Pardo but also to the entire City of Cebu.)
“Dili masukod ang gugma ni Kap Litang alang sa atong mga kaigsuonan sa Poblacion Pardo. Nakahinumdom ko niadtong pagsugod sa Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), grabe ang iyang pagserbisyo sa katawhan. Anaa gayud siya sa front line,” Ong added.
(Kap Litang’s love for the residents of Poblacion Pardo is immeasurable. I remember during the start of the Enhanced Community Quarantine, she was still serving the public. She was really on the front line.)
Abarquez is not the only barangay frontliner who died during the peak of the pandemic. Subsequent months after, more frontliners also died due to COVID-19.
With this, Ong is proposing that June 7, 2021, be declared as a Day of Remembrance for all barangay front liners, medical or non-medical services, who gave their lives to serve the public during the pandemic.
Representing the LNB, the councilor presented the proposal to the City Council on June 9, 2021, and the rest of the council members approved the request.
Ong said the Day of Remembrance is an expression of “utmost gratitude to the punong barangays, barangay officials, workers and volunteers for the service that they have given, and continue to give, to the Cebuanos in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
/bmjo