RDC Chairperson and Romblon Governor Jose R. Riano
The MIMAROPA Regional Development Council (RDC) Executive Committee (ExeCom) reviewed and endorsed the reprioritized fiscal year (FY) 2021 Tier 2 proposals of 24 MIMAROPA regional line agencies (RLAs) and five state, universities and colleges (SUCs) amounting to ₱78.21 billion. This was held during the ExeCom’s virtual meeting held last July 3.
A total of PhP299.12 million will go to the development administration sector while PhP5.18 billion for the economic development sector, PhP61.86 billion for infrastructure development sector, and PhP10.87 billion for social development sector.
RDC Chairperson and Romblon Governor Jose R. Riano presided over the meeting which was attended by Marinduque Governor Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr., directors and representatives of RLAs, SUCs, local government units, and private sector representatives.
In his message, Governor Riano welcomed and thanked all participants for the continued dedication and unified efforts in defeating the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in MIMAROPA. He added that the region is generally doing well as it is currently placed under low risk modified general community quarantine, except for the province of Palawan including Puerto Princesa City that are still under general community quarantine.
Meanwhile, the Committee members were briefed on the current COVID-19 situation in the region. Department of Health in MIMAROPA Regional Director (RD) Mario S. Baquilod reported that as of July 2, MIMAROPA has a total of 92 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Occidental Mindoro recorded the highest number with 45 confirmed cases. This was followed by Oriental Mindoro with 23 cases, Palawan with 14 cases, and Marinduque with six confirmed cases. The province of Romblon recorded the lowest number with four confirmed cases.
According to Baquilod, the following strategies should be considered in planning and decision making: 1) review of protocols for locally stranded individuals or LSIs, repatriates, and other in-bound individuals; 2) stricter implementation of quarantine and isolation; 3) strict and targeted quarantine of areas with clustering of confirmed case; 4) implementation of new discharged and recovery protocols; and 5) establishment of epidemiology and surveillance units.
Baquilod also informed the participants on the MIMAROPA Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU), which is interconnected with different disease reporting units (DRUs), located in the different provinces, cities, and municipalities of the region.
The RESU acts as a vast network in-charge of collecting data, monitoring trends, and providing timely information to stakeholders for the prevention and control of disease outbreaks or epidemics. He encouraged everyone to visit MIMAROPA RESU at www.resu.online.
This article first appeared on MIMAROPA NEDA
