Sulu prolongs Covid quarantine, appeals anew for medical equipment

SULU – Sulu province in southern Philippines has prolonged its general home quarantine until end of April in an effort to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, or Covid-19, that has already claimed the lives of 3 people there.

Governor Sakur Tan appealed anew to the public to follow the strict quarantine guidelines and to stay at home and maintain social distancing and wear face mask if ever they go out to buy essential goods.   

Governor Sakur Tan

Tan said the provincial and municipal hospitals still lack medical equipment to support the campaign in combatting the spread of the deadly respiratory disease, now a global pandemic.

He said the provincial government has been asking medical support from the regional government and national agencies, but received nothing.

“Because of the absence of testing kits, the incapacity of our hospitals, lack of ventilators and shortage of sufficient medical personnel to attend to a sudden surge of Covid, our only viable course of action is prevention through a province-wide general community quarantine. We cannot afford to take any chances of putting at risk the lives of our people as a consequence of relaxing our quarantine procedures,” he said.

“Prevention is the only available option at our disposal at the moment, considering that we are not equipped medically and still denied of even the most basic of testing kits and other related equipment, either from the regional government or national agencies. For reasons aforementioned, it would be grossly unfair if our local initiatives would be measured by the same yardstick used in other better equipped provinces and regions in the country,” he added.

Governor Sakur Tan presides over the Task Force Covid-19 meeting on April 14, 2020. (Sulu Task Force Covid-19 photos)

Tan, who heads the local Task Force Covid-19, said while Sulu - one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region - being remotely located and poorly equipped, “we took the cudgels of facing this plague on our own through gutsy determination and optimizing our meager resources.”

“May we, as your fellow Filipinos, further entreat our regional and national government to focus your attention and provide for our needs for testing kits, ventilators and other essential resources as equally as you do the other provinces. In spite of our sparse resources, we are one with our country in helping and contributing in whatever way we can in fighting and defeating Covid-19,” he said.

Tan earlier appealed for medical equipment after the deaths of the 3 patients. “The public can understand the Provincial Government's limited medical capabilities, but we can sense their restlessness and queries are abound on why the delay of much needed equipment and kits,” he said.

Despite Sulu’s meagre resources, Tan said they were able to provide relief assistance to all 19 municipalities. The provincial government also released additional 5,000 bags of 50-kilo or over 250 tons of rice to different towns to help feed the villagers. The following towns received their share: Jolo - 800 sacks, Patikul - 300, Panglima Tahil - 300 sacks, Pangutaran - 300 sacks, Talipao - 300 sacks, Parang - 300 sacks, Pata - 300 sacks, Siasi - 300 sacks, Pandami - 300 sacks, Tapul - 300 sacks, Lugus - 300 sacks, Panamao - 300 sacks, Omar - 300 sacks, Kalinggalang Caluang - 300 sacks, Indanan - 100 sacks, Patikul - 200 sacks, Luuk - 50 sacks.

Residents have received a bag of rice and grocery items from the local governments. Tan ordered more food packs, medicines and vitamins to indigent families and distribution of personal protective equipment to medical and social workers, and other frontliners to protect them from the respiratory virus.

Since President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the enhanced community quarantine in March, the regional government headed by Chief Minister Murad Ebrahim only allotted a total of ₱155 million to the local governments to intensify their efforts in containing the spread of the virus in the region with nearly 4 million population.

Each of the provinces under Ebrahim’s rule - Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi - received only ₱5 million. Its three cities - Cotabato, Marawi and Lamitan – received ₱2 million each. And 116 municipalities got only ₱1 million each, and the 63 villages in North Cotabato receive a total of ₱8 million. The money was part of the contingency fund of the Muslim autonomous region to augment the local quick response fund of the local governments. (Zamboanga Post)

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