WE congratulate the local vaccination task force of Davao City for its novel scheme of fast-tracking the anti-COVID 19 inoculation here. The task force headed by no less than the newly retired City Health Officer (CHO) Dr. Josephine Villafuerte whose unit is under the guidance of Mayor Inday Sara and Acting City Health Officer Dr. Ashley Lopez, is using the so-called sectoral approach. Meaning, the task force is tapping particular sectors of the population to initiate its vaccination activities where it is most convenient for everyone who belongs to the sector concerned.
For now, there are three sectors that are prominently highlighted because of the apparent success of the way they are doing to have their members vaccinated. These are the tourism, the education, and the transport sectors. Under the education sectors, the focus of its drive to get the jab is its teaching as well as non-teaching force. And these workforces are not only those from the government-run educational institutions but also those in the private schools. The latter is coordinated through the Davao Association of Colleges and Schools or DACS.
And we are happy to note that the DACS initiative is utilizing the vaccination hubs opened by the Ateneo de Davao University. It was less expected of the school knowing the people’s perception of the Jesuit-run institution as an elitist private school.
On the other hand, the task force in Davao City is banking on the assured success of the vaccination undertakings of the DepEd in public schools because most vaccination hubs are its facilities and the agency has several willing volunteers to undertake all the necessary activities for the conduct of the jab.
Meanwhile, the tourism sector, one of the top driver industry groups for the economy of Davao City and the rest of the Davao Region, is also having a successful run of its own vaccination rollout. The sector calls its initiative “Bakuna by the Sea.” This is because the leaders of the sector believe that doing the vaccination in facilities near our shores makes it more relevant to those vaccinated because they are drawing their livelihood from jobs related to tourism activities.
We also have vaccination efforts for people in the transport sector. This is initiated by the City’s traffic management unit with support from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
We also wish to congratulate the local government authorities and the health officials of the city of Davao for ensuring the fast completion of the construction of the Los Amigos Molecular Laboratory. It is expected that with the operation of the laboratory and the new equipment installed inside, the result of swab tests conducted on persons suspected of having the Corona Virus will be made much faster than it is now.
According to the spokesperson of the city’s vaccination task force, the operation of the Los Amigos Molecular laboratory will also be able to beat the current backlog in the analysis of specimens submitted for examination in the existing facilities prior to the inception of the Los Amigos laboratory.
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It looks like this early that the 1Bayan coalition intended to put up a formidable opposition candidate for President in the May 2022 election is headed for evolving into 2Bayan or more coalition instead. This we noticed when two bigwigs of the said newly formed group openly came out to be on opposite poles on the issue of the late President Noynoy Aquino’s elevating the West Philippine Sea dispute with China to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Yes, we were glued with intense interest to the live-streamed discussion of the said issue hosted by broadcast journalist Christian Esguerra. The discussants were former Solicitor General (Noynoy’s time) and Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza and La Salle University International Studies professor, Rolando Cruz.
The crack was betrayed by the question of Esguerra to Jardeleza on whether or not there were two factions in the Aquino Cabinet having extremely opposite views on the arbitration plan. The alleged division in the close advisers of the late President was the subject of a column written for the Philippine Daily Inquirer by Retired SC senior associate justice Antonio Carpio. In answer Jardeleza bluntly told the moderator that there was none. The worst was when the former SolGen asked where Carpio could have gotten his erroneous information. And he went on to say that Carpio was not even present in several of the meetings on the arbitration proposal because he was not a member of the team constituted by the late President.
More damning was Jardeleza’s disclosure that Carpio was merely an observer like he was. And also he revealed during the discussion that there was an international law firm expert on the subject that the Aquino government hired to represent the country in the arbitral case.
In other words, the former SolGen was saying that Carpio lied about his claim in his column. What then has the top 1Bayan Coalition convenor to say about this?
