Garganera: First day of face-to face classes in Cebu City goes smoothly
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementor of the EOC. | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Aside from classrooms that still need to be fixed, Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera said the opening of limited face-to-face classes in schools in Cebu City on Monday, August 22, 2022, was generally orderly.
Garganera, in a news forum on Tuesday, August 23, said the city government received no report of untoward incidents from the schools in its 80 barangays.
“Walay untoward incident. In fact, sa traffic, wala observation nga naglisod g’yod sa traffic. Bahin pod sa skwelahan, na problema ta gamay tungod kay naa pay mga classrooms nga need to be rehabilitated. Pero naa man say pamaagi pod ang atoang mga teachers nga nag blended sila,” he added.
Bernadette Susvilla, the assistant division superintendent at DepEd Cebu City, earlier stated that more than 700 classrooms in the city still need to be repaired in order for the schools to be able to hold a full schedule of limited face-to-face classes.
Garganera, however, said that they emphasize the need for schools to observe proper ventilation while the pupils and students are attending classes. He said it is a good thing that most of the schools here are designed to have wide windows.
He also emphasized that it is a must for each classrooms to open their doors and for teachers and students to follow social distancing inside the classroom.
Garganera said the EOC instructed each school to dedicate an isolation room and to familiarize who to contact just in case there are eventualities, wherein the students or school staff manifest COVID-19 symptoms.
EOC still functioning
Meanwhile, Garganera also said that the Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is still existing and functioning. He also explained why the EOC did not release any COVID-19 updates and statistics for the last three months.
“Yes, we have daily cases but I am opted not to report lang g’yod for the last three months kay usahay man gud ang mga two man gud di na mo read sa finer print ba. Ang ako lang ika sulti, 72 percent of the fresh cases on a daily basis, aymptomatic. Then of the (remaining) 27 percent (who are symptomatic), 98 percent of that are mild,” he said.
“We have to treat this pandemic, especially COVID, just like any ordinary flu, but then again let us not lower our guards. Permanente gihapon ta nga compliance sa protocols,” he added.
Garganera said he is pushing for the institutionalization of the office with the vision of the EOC not only catering to the COVID-19 management, but also to any pandemic-like diseases. But this time, the EOC will be under the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Garganera is also the chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction Management, Safety, and Climate Change adaptation.
/bmjo
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