Zambo rushing to open molecular lab

CITY ADMINISTRATOR Mike Saavedra said the Climaco administration is working double time for the operation of the local government’s molecular laboratory.

He said the City Health Office is also fast-tracking the submission of requirements to the Department of Health so it can issue the necessary license for the laboratory to operate soon. 

City Government photos show City Administrator Mike Saavedra, City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite and City Engineer Chris Navarro inspecting the local government-run molecular laboratory in Barangay San Roque.

Saavedra, together with City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Miravite and City Engineer Chris Navarro, inspected the laboratory in Barangay San Roque. He said the facility is only one of the many legacies of Mayor Beng Climaco, who is now on her third and last term, and is running for congresswoman in District 1. 

“The LGU-run molecular lab aims to provide free and expanded Covid-19 testing to residents, but nonetheless, those with symptoms and (people who had) close contacts (with Covid-19) are already given free testing by the LGU since the start of the pandemic (in 2020),” Saavedra said. 

Climaco previously asked the support of the City Council to provide a wider coverage of RT-PCR testing in Zamboanga which cost between P2,000 to P5,000. “It may not be necessarily a free-for-all grant, but at least with a wider coverage than the present free RT-PCR test given to those with Covid-19 symptoms, suspected and positive cases only,” the mayor said. 

She said her proposal for free RT-PCR testing is subject to the availability of test kits and once the local molecular laboratory becomes operational. The mayor even ordered the City Health Office and the City Budget Office to come up with the policy in conformity with the guidelines set by the Department of Health and the Philippine Red Cross. 

But Councilor Pinpin Pareja last month said council members allied with politician Celso Lobregat slashed the proposed budget of the City Health Office from P180 million to only P80 million and this will greatly impact various health programs of the local government, especially this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pareja made this revelation during an interview with TV 11 and said the health budget proposed by the local government passed a rigid review, but the opposition nonetheless tinkered with the Executive Budget.

Climaco earlier asked the councilors, especially those with the group of Lobregat and Rep. Mannix Dalipe, to support and approved the budget, instead of “politicizing” the funding intended for the welfare, security and health of the Zamboangueños.

Opposition councilors also reduced the budgets of the different local government departments, including the Office of the City Mayor, only to introduce their own version of the Executive Budget.

Politics

Lobregat and Dalipe allies in the City Council had previously opposed the annual budget and removed a huge chunk of funding intended for various pro-poor programs of the Climaco administration. They even trashed Climaco’s pro-poor Vida Programs which benefited tens of thousands of residents, especially the most vulnerable in the community.

Climaco blamed the Lobregat and Dalipe councilors for “killing” all the Vida Programs after they removed vital funding in the Executive Budget.  One such project under the program was the Largo Vida, an initiative that Climaco started in 2018 and which she originally intended to expand to over 60,000 beneficiaries.

The mayor identified the opposition councilors as John Dalipe, BG Guingona, Mike Alavar, Litlit Macrohon, Khymer Olaso, Lilibeth Nuño, Cary John Pioc, VP Elago, Gerky Valesco, Jerry Perez and Monsi dela Cruz, who is now deceased. Dela Cruz and the younger Dalipe ran under Climaco’s political party, but eventually broke off ties with the mayor after winning the 2019 polls. 

Now, allies of Lobregat and Dalipe are running in the polls against each other in the City Council and congressional districts. The young Dalipe and the elderly Lobregat are also squaring off for the mayoralty post. (Zamboanga Post)