LIKE in any crisis, being always one step ahead of the game is an effective antidote so far administered by the local government unit (LGU) of Valenzuela to, at the least, control the rapid spread of Covid-19 within the city since the global race for a vaccine appears to be far from over yet.
“We in Valenzuela City have been very proactive as early as the first localized transmission of Covid-19 came up,” Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview.
The local chief executive was referring to their initiative to lay out their Covid-19 response protocol since January 2020.
As early as March 12, the LGU had approved the Anti-Panic Buying and Anti-Hoarding Ordinance, the first in the country to anticipate hoarding of goods. Also, it deployed “grocery monitors” for the implementation of the program in various groceries and convenience stores in the city.
In an effort to bring food to every table, the city government, to date, has distributed food vouchers thrice to as many as 581,901 families in Valenzuela.
“We have also, on the side of it all, been watching accredited Covid-19 laboratories like a hawk,” he said.
In fact, Valenzuela is the first LGU to close a private-public partnership deal with a Department of Health (DOH)-accredited Stage 5 laboratory to do its own localized targeted mass testing. Being one of the pioneers of such control and immunization strategy, the city tied up during the last Holy Week with private laboratories, namely, The Medical City, Detoxicare, Singapore Diagnostics, and Hi-Precision to process swab tests done locally.
Spending within their means
ADDRESSING this unprecedented health emergency, like other unfortunate events the city had confronted in the past, requires a hefty investment.
Despite its limited resources, the local government of Valenzuela still managed to cover for the essentials in these tough times. At the start of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in mid-May, the city coffers had cumulatively close to P700 million, not even one-fifth of its tax collection to match its annual budget of P5 billion.
“But that P700 million was enough for us to sustain our food pack distribution, which we’ve done in the past couple of months. Remember, LGU’s money, the revenue, is filled up by business tax by January, then real property tax by March,” Gatchalian explained. “So you may have budget appropriation but that does not mean that there is cash there. And remember since we had the lockdown, tax payments were deferred.”
His declaration of a state of calamity allowed his administration to use the whole wealth of the city’s funds for crisis management. Given the enormous expenses—from feeding the people to testing and running the isolation facilities—cost-cutting measures were indispensable. Luckily, though, many public expenditures were also canceled, such as school utilities and graduation rites that were canceled as classes stopped amid lockdowns.
“These funds are being reallocated to meet the growing demand the Covid has brought into play. Not just in the response but in preparing for the new normal,” the mayor said, while citing his regular meetings with the local Sanggunian when it comes to allocation and realignment of funds. “[It’s] very responsive because I am a firm believer that the more heads are talking about it, the more transparent you are.”
Isolation is prevention
EVEN if the National Task Force against Covid-19 had just recently proposed to adopt a strict “no home quarantine” policy, this measure was already being observed in the City of Valenzuela since the outbreak started early this year.
Gatchalian admitted that the idea came from the national government’s order for LGUs to set up their respective central isolation units. First initiated by the Department of the Interior and Local Government in February, this is now mandated by the DOH.
Realizing early on that it will be more effective to stop the chain of infections if all patients confirmed positive for Covid-19 are placed in a central isolation unit, Valenzuela began doing it as soon as the virulent illness became a pandemic.
“So that’s why we implemented the ‘no home quarantine’ protocol [already back then],” the mayor recalled.
From merely two isolation units, the number has increased to 14. Adding to these are the two more similar facilities being built by the national government.
The local chief executive looks forward to the completion of both to further encourage his constituents to go to isolation facilities, since “no home quarantine” is implemented in Valenzuela. It also makes their jobs easier when the place where the patients will be quarantined for 14 days is conducive to fast recovery.
In case there is a need for more isolation facilities, he pointed to a buffer of around 200 beds which are operational anytime.
Meanwhile, Valenzuela hospitals’ operating capacity decreases at present. Admittedly last month, they were almost full. But now their capacity levels gradually normalize, given that Valenzuela posts an average of 30 to 40 Covid-19 cases daily; with majority of them asymptomatic, compared to 60 to 80 cases a couple of weeks ago.
Tracking possible carriers
IN contact tracing, Valenzuela has upped the ante in locating the whereabouts of people who possibly had direct contact with confirmed carriers of Covid-19.
The city government recently opened a call center-like tracking hub called the Mega Contact Tracing Center (MCTC). Complementing the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit monitoring for Covid-19 contacts, the local government deployed 160 contact tracers, data encoders and disease surveillance officers at MCTC—running a 24/7 shift of intensified contact tracing in the locality.
Apart from contact tracing on the floor, this daunting tracking task is now also automated. This is to veer away from traditional forms as the city maximizes the use of technology by developing software that could help in contact tracing and in the prevention of further transmission of Covid-19.
Supported by City Ordinance 783, Series of 2020, Valenzuela Tracing (ValTrace) Application now enables residents and nonresidents to register and download their own Quick Response (QR) code and have it presented upon entering enclosed indoor establishments in the city as it officially rolls out on October 5, where a “No QR Code, No Entry” policy will be mandated.
The LGU collaborated with Appcase Inc. to develop the app for use of individuals and establishments. Registration and the use of it is free of charge. Both establishments and individuals are required to register in the app by signing up at https://valtrace.appcase.net as Citizen (for the individual) and as Merchant (for establishment).
After registration, individuals will be provided with a unique ValTrace-generated QR code which they can store on their phone or print for a physical copy. There will only be one QR code per person.
On the other hand, establishments need to install the ValTrace QR scanner app to be given access to a software which will allow them to scan the QR code of registrants prior to entry in the establishments. When the QR code is scanned by a listed establishment, an individual’s personal information will be transmitted to the Valenzuela Central Contact Tracing System at the Mega Contact Tracing Center for easy tracing.
The city government will handle all information gathered from the data subjects with the highest degree of confidentiality and will securely dispose of such after 30 days from the time it was collected.
Localized mass testing
COMPLEMENTING the MCTC, the city is set to open its two newly built laboratories located at the Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital—the Valenzuela Hope Molecular Laboratory (VHML) and Valenzuela Serology Laboratory (VSL)—to help boost its localized targeted mass testing as it explores new capacities in conducting its own sustainable Covid-19 response.
With a capacity to run as many as 700 specimens daily, VHML has a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine (Biorad CFX 96 Real-time PCR Detection-Thermal Cycle) and is expected to be fully integrated with the Abbott Architect machines of the VSL through a Laboratory Information System.
The VHML, now on its final stage of licensing to operate, will house a medical technology lounge, clean write shop and supply room, doffing and donning area, reverse transcription (RT)-PCR room, temperature adding room, re-agent room, specimen handling and sample preparation room and specimen receiving area.
“As we foresee the opening of our own molecular laboratory, we will be able to hit our target to test 10 percent of our population,” Gatchalian said, while noting that a total of 24,000 individual RT-PCR tests have been conducted in Valenzuela to date, or 4 percent of the city’s projected 2020 population of 664,613. “Hopefully with all our targeted efforts, we will soon be able to effectively test, trace and isolate our cases,” he said.
Good policies in place
AT the onset of the lockdowns, the members of the City Council were always proactive in coming up with what they deem best for the welfare of Valenzuelanos, while also upholding and integrating health protocols.
Proof of this are the 53 ordinances and 45 resolutions (and counting) that they were able to pass from March to May, ranging from Covid-19 jokes, discrimination, liquor ban, kite-flying, new normal on dorms and lodging, food services, public health, transportation, and wearing of masks, to name a few. These policies will be gradually adapted as Valenzuela transitions to the new normal and strictly implements the health standards on the ground.
“Our City Council is very active and very inclusive in the sense that they come up with ordinances that are very encompassing, with committees well-represented and focusing on the concerns of our constituents. This way there will be strict enforcement of minimum health standards because we are active in implementing it through our city ordinances,” the mayor said.
While conceding that they still haven’t perfected their response to the pandemic, there’s a need for “significant investment in changing mindsets” and “paradigm shift” that the minimum health standards are not an exception or a special thing to do, but rather a way of life.
“And in order to do that, we really have to push hard on educating the population in ingraining [it] in their mindset. So we are going to add investing in education because like what the IATF said, preventive steps are cheaper than the one that we are doing right now, and there’s a big chance that we can end this pandemic if the people will follow the minimum health standards,” he emphasized.
Back to business
BECAUSE the economy also emerges as a casualty whenever there is a pandemic, the city government of Valenzuela is not concerned about more of the bigger companies operating there, but rather the small-time businesses. Currently, the city hosts 15,000 establishments, of which 5,000 are industrial.
“Definitely,” he thinks “the bigger companies here…can survive.” Gatchalian cited the fact that they are currently starting to pay their taxes, which means they have enough “stored resources” to weather the storm.
“What I am more worried about are the MSMEs [micro, small and medium enterprises]. This is because they are easily” impacted, adding that, “we have done a lot of focus groups with them and we’ve realized that they want to stay in the game.”
While the local chief executive is concerned about the welfare of MSMEs, he reiterated that the LGU will not be “giving out discounts left and right” since the city also needs revenues considering that the crisis has wiped out a lot of its cash reserves.
“There are capacities out there for PPP, and right now we are working with cooperatives in the city who have stored capital, who are also wanting to release those capital because that’s their business,” he stressed.
The mayor added that they are exploring financing working capital of the MSMEs through the capacities of local lending institutions.
“I even want to venture on the discussion on modernized jeeps,” Gatchalian said, while linking the health crisis to the ensuing lack of public transport. “In order for them to go back to the streets they have to start modernizing, and the first step is to organize themselves into a transport cooperative. And again, where would they find their working capital? Right now, we are working again with certain banks who are into the business of loaning to MSMEs.”
To help sustain economic activities amid lockdown measures, the mayor guaranteed that businesses will remain up and running at the fastest possible time through the so-called Paspas Permit.
“So if a company is going to rationalize in making people work from home, the local government of Valenzuela will enable that, we will make sure that you are productive while you are at home, you don’t have to come to City Hall anymore to pay your taxes [or] just to get your permits,” he said of the 10-second business permit platform they launched last year. “We are just going to start to expand it all the way to zoning.”
Lessons learned
FOR Gatchalian, there is no prescribed playbook for the Philippines or anywhere else in the world as far as solving a crisis of this magnitude is concerned.
“We have never seen anything like this. What we are doing right now is to respond accordingly on what we need to do. In a nutshell, the LGU is operationalizing what the national government dictates or instructs, and we also have to respond accordingly to what the terrain is calling us to do,” he explained. “I’ve realized [that in] this pandemic, every single hour there seems to be a twist and a turn that the LGU has to respond to. That being said, if you are to make me put it in one sentence, the LGU’s main job is respond immediately based on the stimulus outside.”
Just like what they usually do whenever there is a fire, flood, typhoon or any disaster, they always have medical, relief, social and even peace-and-order interventions.
In this time of Covid-19, the city government is testing ahead, isolating people, and putting them in hospitals if they need medical attention so as to keep the cases at a minimum level. When it comes to delivering relief, Valenzuela also has intervention in terms of fighting hunger.
“I can tell you point blank that, to the best of my knowledge, no one in Valenzuela went hungry during that time. We managed to somehow come up with an efficient distribution system without violating the social-distancing rules, food on the table for the whole lockdown period for every single Valenzuelano household, so we were able to fight hunger,” the mayor said.
The only playbook here, according to him, is the delegation of the responsibilities wherein the ALERT Center, or the command base on disaster preparedness, has been operating round-the-clock since the pandemic came up.
“Again, the key is the delegation of responsibilities. It is also important that we go down on the ground so there is no ‘disconnect’ [between] what is really happening, tailor-fitting ways into the realities especially now that the pandemic has no manual, no standard operating procedure. It’s not me that is doing the heavy lifting here, it is a good team that is doing the heavy lifting, not just me. The commendation goes to them also,” Gatchalian stressed.
Image credits: Valenzuela Public Information Office, Nonie Reyes