Lanao del Norte 1st district Rep. Khalid Dimaporo underscored on Tuesday the need to build up a buffer stock of personal protective equipment or PPEs in Mindanao.

This, after Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Abdullah Dumama Jr. reported to the House Committee on Mindanao Affairs during a virtual hearing that Regions IX to XIII currently have a projected PPE "need" or shortfall of 117,017.

There are significant projections across these five regions, as per Dumama. But the bulk of the figure is for Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula), which needs 37,470 PPEs. This is more than twice of the actual number of PPEs it has received since the COVID-19 pandemic began (16,460).

"We really need to have a buffer stock of PPEs in Mindanao. We're really thankful that we haven't had a case wherein COVID-19 has spiraled out of control like in Cebu and NCR (National Capital Region)...we want to make sure that that won't happen in the Mindanao region. One of the things that we can do is to be prepared," Dimaporo, the panel chairman, manifested during the hearing.

Dimaporo said that while the regions down south have been helping each other amid the public health crisis, the local government units (LGUs) there still need the assistance of the national government.

"Please extend to the Secretary Duque our proposal that there be a buffer stock for PPEs in the Mindanao region. Most delicate there are the regional hospitals. They are the responsibility of the DOH. You should be fully stocked with PPEs so we can protect our frontliners," he told Dumama.

Dumama gave these projected needs for PPEs for the following regions: Region IX, 37,470; Region X (Northern Mindanao), 25,717; Region XI (Davao Region), 21,470; Region XII (SOCCSKARGEN), 17,860; and Region XIII (Caraga Region), 14,500.

As for the number of PPEs received, the DOH official supplied these figures to the committee: Region IX, 16,460; Region X, 59,000; Region XI, 48,900; Region XII, 33,500; and Region XIII, 17,000.

PPEs are indispensable against the highly contagious 2019 coronavirus, which has infected 1,858 people in Mindanao as of July 12. The acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by the virus has claimed at least 59 lives from the region.

Zamboanga del Sur 1st district Rep. Divina Grace Yu lamented how Region IX has received the least number of PPEs despite having the second highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mindanao, with 391. Davao has the highest with 735 cases.

"I need assurance from the regional director that we will receive the needed PPEs," Yu said.

Region IX Regional Director Emilia Monicimpo assured the panel that she would relay the concerns to the central office.

According to Monicimpo, other frontliners like the military and police have also been requesting PPEs from them. Thus, they also provide for these organizations.

"Everybody got their share of PPEs maski konti lang (even if we only have few)," she said.