LAST Friday, February 19, the city government was reported to have started organizing the teams that will implement the city’s massive vaccination program. According to reports aired on a local television station, the city’s vaccination task force was intending to organize teams whose number will allow the fielding of three groups in every identified vaccination center in the city.
According to the report quoting sources from the task force headed by Dr. Ashley Lopez, the composite teams will consist of the following groups. One is in charge of educating or psychologically preparing those who want to be vaccinated. Another one will conduct the actual vaccination or injection.
And the third one will be tasked to do the monitoring of those already vaccinated starting immediately after his or her vaccination and even after they shall have gone home for possible negative reactions on the vaccine.
We find the move very laudable and appropriate at this stage of the mass vaccination program plan. However, we also noted that up until last Friday, the task force has not been transparent as to the total number of centers it will designate in the entire city and where these are located. Coming up with the total number of centers will allow the task force to determine correctly the total number of people to be trained on the different aspects of the responsibilities the teams in every center will handle.
Also, knowing where the vaccination centers are to be located would allow the local task force to look for human resources to compose the teams since they may be found right in the immediate vicinity of the vaccination centers. This way, the task force will be able to help the recruits earned money as well as also allow them to save as they may not be spending more in terms of travel.
Meanwhile, it was also learned that there are about 537,800 of Davao City’s population that are listed as among the priority sectors for the vaccination program. Assuming that all of them are ready for the inoculation of the anti-CoVid vaccines it surely will take some time to apply the vaccine on them especially if the number of vaccination teams is not commensurate vis-à-vis their number. We can only hope that the local task force has considered this aspect in its determination of the number of people to be recruited and trained to compose the vaccination teams.
The mass vaccination program globally is considered the ultimate way of responding to the prevailing health emergency. But the mass inoculation can become an emergency itself if its various implementation processes are not well-thought of, or that the supposed “experts” refuse to listen or look into small suggestions coming from non-expert yet very observant ordinary man on the streets.
***********************
Very soon, or perhaps is now happening, a significant portion of the Davao City Coastal Highway will be open to vehicular traffic.
In a statement, the spokesman of the Department of Public Works and Highways XI (DPWH XI) Dean Ortiz, said that the Bago Aplaya to Talomo junction will be passable this week. By this how much of the traffic volume will be relieved at the main highway and up to where before the vehicles will again be converging and start building up the traffic bedlam?
We also believe that it is important that the regional office of the DPWH will advise the public of the time-table for which the completion of the project has been projected—originally or as adjusted, Based on our previous information the Coastal Highway construction has already been delayed. As to what is causing the delay and what are the remedies being resorted to by the government, we have no way of knowing so far. But we are working on it.
Actually, the same project is similar to the situation of the Catalunan Grande Road expansion project from its original 2 lanes to a 4-lane highway. Until now some portions of the road have not been expanded to a 4-lane thoroughfare. It is clearly noticeable that the DPWH has failed to settle issues on road-right-of-way. There are still a number of residential buildings that remained undemolished despite the many years that we assume negotiations were made. There are houses on the stretch encompassing the portion of Pag-ibig Homes, along SGR Village and there is one adjacent a fuel station. How come the DPWH failed to convince the house owners or even execute any drastic but legal option allowable in the implementation of government projects?
Yes, we agree that these are private properties. But isn’t possession of the properties concerned not absolute? That it is only a right granted by government under our laws and that when the government has use for the property for the benefit of the majority, it can get it back with prior legally accepted compensation? How come the possessors of the said properties become so defiant against the government that they are able to actually defer full completion of the project not just in months but in years already?
The project has a scheduled completion date of January 2018 yet as per the contractor’s billboard installed in strategic areas in Catalunan Grande Road. It is already February 2021 or over three years from the announced completion date. What’s happening to this project DPWH?
May be my former fellow media colleague, Dean, can educate the people on this matter for and in behalf of the DPWH XI. Please…
