BATANG MAYNILA
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno
This past week was an unfortunate week for the citizens of Manila who are being dragged in the ugly politicking of some unscrupulous persons who care for nothing but their political interests.
First off, the website which we are using for our mass vaccination program was hacked 133 to 200 times on Wednesday, in what could well be considered as a desperate attempt to sabotage our program.
Actually, this was not the first. Several attempts have been done almost on a daily basis but luckily, our IT teams are able to ward off the attempts and are able to make sure that all the data are protected and backed up on a regular basis.
The first serious attempt wasmade in March, when our mass vaccination
program became an instant hit.
On each vaccination day, our teams, under the supervision of Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna and Manila Health Department chief Dr. Poks Pangan and his assistant chief Dr. Ed Santos, would beat their own record of vaccinations done in a single day.
Of late, we have hit over 45,000 jabs in one day, with nearly 1.5 million doses already administered so far, which, I was told, is the fastest in the metro.
I am appealing hard to these hackers to please spare the city’s mass vaccination program from their evil schemes, as this program is intended to benefit the innocent citizens of Manila who need protection from the deadly coronavirus.
The hackings being done are intended to paralyze the system to the disadvantage of those who want to pre-register and get vaccinated. While it may mean extra work for our IT teams, the problem is easily solved by them each time the hacking happens.
The residents who need the site are the ones who suffer most and I cannot fathom how these hackers find time to do this while the whole nation is in the middle of a pandemic. The responsibility had been traced to a troll farm.
Before this, our usually and normally orderly and peaceful vaccination system in shopping malls was also sabotaged, based on reports coming from the ground.
On Thursday, big groups of people arrived in vans, buses and jeepneys at the SM San Lazaro, disregarded the advise on the cut-off and removed the barriers set up by mall security personnel, prompting the management of that shopping mall designated as a vaccination hub to temporarily close down, resulting in the cancellation of the scheduled vaccination that day.
Volunteers and mall personnel reported that everything was peaceful until the huge crowds arrived simultaneously beginning at past 2 a.m. and the number of those queuing there reached 7,000 to 10,000.
Mostly, the said crowds coming from Laguna,Cavite and Rizal told the marshals that they rushed to the site after hearing rumors that those who are unvaccinated will be arrested if they go out of their house during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Usually, those who go to our vaccination sites number only about 1,000 to 2,000 and are fully aware of the policies like the need to pre-register and have their QR codes ready, which was not the case with the throngs who went to the mall site. The residents also know that there is a cut-off and once told that the cut-off has been met, they peacefully go home and try their luck the next vaccination day.
While the unruly crowds forced the closure of the SM San Lazaro Mall and the cancellation of the vaccination slated there although the inoculation went as scheduled in SM Manila, Lucky Chinatown and Robinson's Manila.
On Sunday, we launched our 24/7 vaccination program and we have adopted a new system adopted in line with the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), where strict scheduling will now be enforced, walk-ins will no longer be allowed and inoculation will be done per batches of barangays in the communities instead of shopping malls.
Before this, we opened our third dialysis center in Sta. Ana Hospital with a provision for those who are infected with COVID. It is equipped with high-tech facilities at par with private hospitals.
As of this writing, over 1.4 million vaccines have been administered in the city, while 838,115 persons have been vaccinated with first dose and 666,366 are now fully-vaccinated.
These attempts to derail the city’s efforts to get everyone vaccinated at the soonest time possible will never succeed.
Instead of wasting time sabotaging our vaccination program where the ordinary masses stand to be affected, I enjoin those behind such efforts to use their time and effort in helping us instead for the benefit of the city, its residents and the country in general as we all continue to strive toward reaching herd immunity.
***
Gaya ng paulit-ulit kong sinasabi, kailangan ko ang tulong ninyong lahat. Walang magmamalasakit sa Maynila kundi tayo ding mga Batang Maynila. Manila, God first!***
For updates on latestdevelopments in the city of Manila, please visit my Facebook account – ‘IskoMoreno Domagoso.’