By Charissa Luci-Atienza Saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," Oriental Mindoro 1st district Rep. Paulino Salvador "Doy" Leachon on Monday (April 13) batted for the designation of an isolation or quarantine area solely for COVID-19 patients in his province. He made the proposal to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) after receiving a midnight call from a concerned constituent asking him to address the concern of a neighborhood that went into panic upon finding out that their neighbor-mortician embalmed the remains of a patient from Canubing 1, Calapan City who succumbed to coronavirus disease. "Dapat naghahanda tayo ng isang quarantine o lugar lamang para sa mga COVID patients. Di katulad ngayon na tatlong ospital sa Calapan ang nagkaroon ng COVID patients. Naiiwasan sana natin ang posibleng pagkalat ng virus at mas madali o synchronized ang pag-manage kung sama-sama sa isang lugar ang COVID patients," he said in a Facebook post, after Oriental Mindoro recorded six confirmed COVID-19 cases. (We should prepare a quarantine or isolation area for all COVID patients. We have now three hospitals in Calapan City attending to COVID patients. We could have avoided the spread of the virus and it would have been easier to manage or synchronize the response if COVID patients are together in one place.) He urged the PDRRMO to learn the best practices and adopt the measures implemented by countries such as Singapore, China, and South Korea, as well as the local governments of Iloilo and Baguio to prevent the spread of the disease. He proposed that all medical frontliners "be weaponized" and all healthcare facilities in the province be armed with necessary equipment such as personnel protective equipment (PPEs), protective suits, masks, thermal scanners, and alcohol, among others. He noted that even before the outbreak, South Korea already ensured that it has stocks of PPEs, protective suits, masks, thermal scanners, and alcohol. Leachon said the provincial government should consider conducting mass testing for COVID-19 infection and flex its muscles to ensure that Oriental Mindoro will have its own accredited testing center. He said funds can be realigned to finance such initiatives, even as he noted that the calamity fund can also be tapped to buy testing kits. "Baka kaya anim lang ang COVID-positive? Kasi konti lang ang na-test. Dapat ma-test agad lahat ng exposed frontliners at hindi lang ang suspect o probable victims," he said. (Why are there only six COVID-positive persons? Because only few were tested. All exposed frontliners should be tested immediately, not just the suspected or probable victims.) He also asked the PDRRMO to put up a central command "for principal action plan and monitoring" of all COVID-19 cases, in coordination with city and muncipal health offices. Leachon also batted for the full disclosure of identities and whereabouts of COVID-19 patients for immediate contract tracing and to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. He said the guidelines should be issued on the handling and processing of the remains of COVID-19 patients, suspected COVID patients who died without the test, and those who died while under isolation or quarantine in their homes. "Katulad ng insidente sa Canubing 1, bakit di-umano ang sabi ng ospital sa pamilya ay pag may nagtanong daw ay na-stroke lang ang pasyente. Ay alam na alam naman nila na suspect na sa COVID. Sa unang pagtingin parang may pagtatakip, anong motibo? Ito ay malalang violation ng protocol. Dapat maimbestigahan," he said. (Just like the incident in Canubing 1, the hospital allegedly informed the family to say when asked that the patient died due to stroke, even though they knew the patient was a suspected COVID patient. At first glance, there was a cover up, what is the motive? This is a serious violation of protocol. This must be investigated.) Leachon also sought the mandatory wearing of masks and the strict implementation of the enhanced community quarantine to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A little precaution before a crisis occurs is preferable to a lot of fixing up afterward," he said. "Di baleng OA (overacting) , basta OKAY. Tatawirin nating sama-sama ang krisis na ito." (We don't mind being OA, as long as we are all okay.)