The town of Balete, Aklan has completed its P13. 6 hospital-like community-based quarantine facilities to cater to the needs of the residents, returning OFWs, and locally stranded Individuals infected with the highly contagious Coronavirus disease.
The P13.6 million projects were funded under the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services- Disaster Response Operations Procedure of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with counterparts from the barangay and municipal governments.
The DROP implementation was prompted by Proclamation No. 922, declaring a State of Public Health Emergency and facilitate the mobilization of resources, to ease the processes including procurement of critical logistics and supplies.
The three community-based quarantine facilities are located at Barangays Aranas, Fulgencio, and Cortes. These three communities were identified as strategic barangays for easier access and are joint projects of 10 barangays.
The structures were built based on the design and specifications provided by the Department of Health to the local government unit. The community-based quarantine facilities have parking space, differently-abled friendly bathrooms, and well-ventilated rooms.
The projects were turned over to the barangays Tuesday with the DSWD Assistant Regional Director for Operations Delia Bagolcol, Mayor Dexter Calizo, Gov. Florencio Miraflores, LMP-Aklan President Jo-en Miraflores, community volunteers, municipal and barangay officials.
The isolation facility in Barangay Aranas amounted to P7.4 million. It has six isolation rooms with a toilet and bathroom, a doffing area with toilet and bathroom, reception area, medical equipment, and perimeter fence.
The structure was constructed on the property owned by the local government unit. It has a different entrance and exit areas for health care workers and those infected with the virus.
The isolation facility is Fulgencio has three isolation rooms, a doffing area, decontamination area. All the rooms have their own toilet and bathroom. It has also separate entrance and exit areas for health providers and with confirmed cases of Coronavirus. The project amounted to P3,064,000.
The quarantine facility in Barangay Cortes features a three-unit isolation room, donning area, and doffing area. All have their own toilet and bath. The project amounted to P3.1 million.
DSWD Assistant Regional Director for Operations Delia Bagolcol was satisfied and glad about the performance of the local government unit in implementing its COVID-19 response projects.
“The projects are responsive and built timely and efficiently.”
Bagolcol said the projects were completed despite the challenges during the conceptualization of the quarantine facilities.
During the turn-over, Bagolcol assured DSWD’s full support to the programs and services of the local government unit especially when it involves the poor and marginalized sectors.
On the other hand, Mayor Dexter Calizo was grateful to Kalahi-CIDSS for granting them the funds to finance the structures. He said they could not find these structures in 4th class municipalities like Balete. “Kalahi-CIDSS is a vital factor in the development of small lgu’s such as Balete.”
Kalahi-CIDSS has provided Balete with P13.5 million grant while the LGU has a counterpart of P79,000 to complete the construction of the three quarantine facilities.
Calizo added that the road projects funded by Kalahi-CIDSS in the previous implementation contributed to the fast completion of the quarantine facilities.
The delivery of construction materials at the site specifically at Cortes was made easier because of the accessibility. Cortes is more or less eight kilometers away from the town proper and is considered as GIDA area.
Calizo assured they will fully-maximize the use of the structures to address the needs of the people, especially during this pandemic.
He said they will allow a portion of the structure for other health-related purposes after the pandemic.
The local government unit is now working for the Philhealth accreditation of the structures particularly in Barangay Aranas as part of their maintenance and operations strategy. #
