CEBU CITY—To strengthen the measures against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) is planning to establish a COVID Playbook Academy in the Visayas.
The proposed academy, which may be put up either in Cebu or Bacolod, or both, will be headed by Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, who is the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) chief implementer for the Visayas.
“Before, there’s no playbook yet for COVID not until Gen. Mel came to Cebu, and successfully helped the local government unit manage COVID. This is why Gen. Mel came to Bacolod to apply the same equation to Bacolod based on the Cebu experience,” said OPAV Asst. Sec. Anthony Gerard ‘Jonji’ Gonzales.
The academy will become a learning hub for the best practices in addressing the COVID-19 crisis, Gonzales said.
OPAV Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino called on other Visayas provinces and cities to implement the COVID Playbook for their anti-COVID measures.
“The COVID Playbook will help LGUs (local government units) in containing the spread of the virus,” Dino said. “With lower COVID-19 cases, LGUs can safely reopen and revive their economy.”
With COVID Playbook, an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will be established, a concept pioneered by Feliciano.
Cebu City has its own EOC that significantly contributed to the decrease of COVID-19 cases after the place was once considered the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.
Upon the recommendation of Feliciano, Bacolod put up its own EOC last September, and the number of COVID-19 cases in the area started to drop.
Aside from institutionalizing the EOC, other components of the COVID Playbook were the crucial measures in battling the COVID heath crisis, such as testing, tracing and treatment.