The Regional Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid-19, composed of various regional offices in Region XII, has met up with the local chief executives of Lake Sebu and Surallah in South Cotabato on April 6, 2022 for the first day of the ‘Face-to-Face Forum with LGUs on the Status of Covid-19 Vaccination and VAS Line list submission’ or the “Immersion Program Part II”.
For Lake Sebu and Surallah, DILG XII RD Josephine Cabrido-Leysa, CESO III was joined by ARD Lailyn A. Ortiz and the South Cotabato team, along with RD Akmad Usman of DBM XII, DTI XII RD Jude Constantine Jaugan, OCD XII ARD Jerome Barranco, PIA XII RD Ms. Cathy Apelacio and IPHO South Cotabato Dr. Rogelio Aturdido, Jr.
Lake Sebu Mayor Floro S. Gandam and other representatives of various agencies and other sectors joined the forum held at El Galong Lake Resort. When the program ended in Lake Sebu, the RIATF XII team then travelled to the neighboring town of Surallah, about thirty minutes away, to also discuss with the local officials the means to increase vaccination statistics for the said town.
The second day of the ‘Face-to-Face Forum’ targeted the municipalities of Glan and Malapatan in Sarangani Province on April 7. DILG RD Leysa CESO III led the team of her fellow RDs for this activity. She was joined by ARD Lailyn A. Ortiz and the Sarangani team, under the leadership of PD Samuel A. Camaganacan, together with RD Akmad Usman of DBM XII, OCD XII ARD Jerome Barranco, PIA XII’s OIC-RD Ms. Cathy Apelacio and Glan Mayor Vivien B. Yap.
Twenty (20) Punong Barangays also showed up at the forum with their respective council members and other sectoral representatives. The whole team then proceeded to the nearby town of Malapatan for the 2nd segment of the day-long forum.
Meanwhile, the municipality of Pikit in the Province of Cotabato hosted the 3rd and last day of the Face-to-Face Forum with LGUs on April 8. This is the second time for the said municipality to host the immersion activity.
DILG XII RD Josephine Cabrido-Leysa, CESO III then reiterated the need for communities to comply with the government mandated “Bakunahan.” She was joined by RD Akmad Usman of DBM XII, OCD XII ARD Jerome Barranco, DICT XII RD Paulette V. Gevera and DOH-XII RD Aristides Concepcion-Tan, among others, with local officials headed by Councilor Mujihadeen Alba who represented Mayor Sumolong Sultan. Punong Barangays of the municipality with their respective council members and other sectoral representatives were also present during the forum.
The last stop was in the Municipality of Carmen and the whole RIATF XII Team was welcomed by Mayor Roger Ryan Taliño and members of the LGU. Carmen becomes the last and final LGU to host the whole RIATF XII Team.
For the last leg of the campaign, DILG XII RD Josephine Cabrido-Leysa, CESO III, along with DILG XII CAO Dennis T. Sucol, were joined by RD Akmad Usman of DBM XII, OCD XII ARD Jerome Barranco, DICT XII RD Paulette V. Gevera and DOH-XII RD Aristides Concepcion-Tan, among others.
In all of the three events, RD Tan discussed the ‘financial and social impacts of the average hospital bill for Covid-19 patients to individuals and family’ while RD Usman elaborated on the ‘fiscal impact of Covid-19 on the national Tax Allocation (NTA) of LGUs for FY 2023’.
After each open forum, the participants, headed by the RDs from various agencies who joined the campaign, then affixed their signatures to the “Pledge of Commitment” banner.
RD Leysa highlighted the vaccination compliance figures of the community which indicate ‘hesitancy’ among the populace and the need to increase the vaccine figures of the region.
Back in the latter part of 2021, the RIATF XII also conducted the same activity in different target LGUs in the region (especially those with the low vaccine turn-out) to show support for the nationwide ‘Bayanihan Bakunahan’, which was locally dubbed as ‘Immersion Activity 1’. During those schedules, the RIATF-XII was divided into three teams to ensure that many areas will be covered by the campaign.
Based on the latest figures from DOH, Region XII ranked 16th out of the 17 provinces in vaccination performance.
