DAVAO DEL NORTE, June 1 (PIA)-The barangays have been very helpful in keeping the Municipality of Carmen free from COVID-19, Mayor Virginia Perandos said.

Perandos has credited barangay officials in keeping their residents on the lookout of new entrants to barangay communities.

"Vigilant ang mga tawo sa Carmen mo report dayon sila. They know who are those new in their community and immediately report to us,"" she said in an interview. "We have made the barangays aware of all these things; that's how responsive they are," she added.

Perandos was referring to updates on COVID-19 including the preventive measures and policies relative to efforts of the local and national governments to contain the pandemic and spare the Filipino peoples from contracting it.

Perandos also noted the consciousness of the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERT) to monitor the health status of new arrivals in their communities even to the extent of checking on them through cellphones.

" I am so thankful nga ingon ana aka abtik ang atong mga barangay officials. Abtik usab ang ilang BHERT," she told PIA.

"Kung wala ang among mga BHWs (Barangay Health Workers), kung wala ang Barangay Tanod we cannot really move , ingon ani ka smooth to fight against covid. (If not for our BHWs, if not for our Barangay Tanod we would not be able to move, as smooth as this, in our fight against COVID-19)," she said.

She, however, gave credits to efforts of the Municipal Government in raising community awareness through information dissemination and through COVID-19 inter-agency task force meetings.

The heightened awareness has made residents of Carmen easy to mobilize, she said while noting that checkpoints at the barangay levels, at several times, were the ones intercepting travelers and entrants to communities. The Philippine National Police (PNP) is also banking on the barangays for verification purposes

Meanwhile, the municipal government of Carmen has tapped the partnership of Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish to set isolation rooms at the Parish Hall "to accommodate the stranded and the OFWs returning home".

The Municipal Government currently has 32 isolation rooms at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish as a way of monitoring especially the stranded before they return home to their respective barangays.

Still looking at he threat of possible infection, Mayor Perandos emphasized the need to religiously observe social distancing at two meters, " and you have to wear your facemask," she advised Carmenians. (PIA XI/Jeanevive Duron Abangan)