The Department of the Interior and Local Government-Cordillera Administrative Region (DILG-CAR) urged the region’s punong barangays (PBs) and Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERT) teams to prepare the active contact details of their constituents to facilitate the government’s response during emergency cases.

“The department continues to receive complaints, issues and concerns involving unavailable contact details of our barangays, the absence of BHERT members, and a lack of awareness of how critical the BHERT roles are, particularly during pandemic,’’ said DILG-CAR Regional Director Araceli San Jose.

While much progress has been made in recent months and some provinces in the region have been placed under Alert Level 1, Sa Jose said the threat of Covid-19 persists that is why it is imperative for the constituents to be provided with contact details of barangays, PBs, and BHERTs as primary frontliners in the fight against the virus.

“We are urging our PBs to create their Barangay’s Official Facebook Account or other social media accounts if not yet available and to ensure the creation of BHERT Page within the Barangay's FB Account or any social media account that includes the active information on BHERT and other related information,’’ she added.

San Jose stressed that the PBs should also make sure that their BHERT members are listed in their barangay directory for easier communication.

“They can also post tarpaulins in conspicuous public places within their barangay jurisdiction with active telephone numbers and other contact details of PBs and BHERT members for maximum dissemination,” San Jose said.

San Jose added that “in our respective communities, BHERTs are our first-line responders. Let us all contribute to our community's response. Let us be proactive and make an effort to identify our BHERTs so that we know who to listen to and who to seek assistance from if necessary.’’

BHERTs as primary barangay frontliners

As a community organization tasked in managing all Covid-19-related healthcare needs, San Jose maintained that they are also tasked to make sure that residents within their jurisdiction are all accounted for and are fully informed about the disease.

The DILG mandates the creation of the BHERT for every 5,000 population, composed of an executive officer, a barangay tanod, and two barangay health workers, one is preferably a nurse or a midwife to be appointed by the Punong Barangay.

"The Department also encourages our City and Municipal Mayors to provide the necessary assistance and support to all Punong Barangays, members of BHERT, and other barangay functionaries who provide health care services in the barangay in bouncing back to a better new normal,” she noted.

Reportorial Requirements

The DILG also directed all city and municipal field officers to ensure and monitor compliance with Memorandum Circular No. 2022-046, as well as to consolidate and submit monitoring reports to the Provincial Office in the case of City/Municipal Field Offices, and to the Regional Office in the case of Provincial, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities offices, by June 15, 2022.

The Regional Consolidated Report on Barangay Compliance with this latest directive must be submitted to the Office of the Secretary through National Barangay Operations Office (NBOO) for consolidation on or before June 30, 2022.

“PBs who fail to comply with the aforementioned directive must submit an explanation letter to the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government,’’ San Jose warned. (Chito A. Chavez)