Bohol, Dumaguete City allot budgets for COVID-19 vaccines

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY— More and more local government units (LGUs) in Central Visayas are allocating budgets for COVI-19 vaccines including the Province of Bohol which has a supplemental investment plan (SIP) worth P100M and Dumaguete City eying some P30M for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines this year.

According to Ven Arigo of Bohol’s Provincial Information and Media Relations (PRIMER) office that the move is in anticipation of the approval of the national government of the most effective, safest vaccine that will be allowed in the Philippines.

Arigo said that Capitol's Local Finance Committee (LFC) prepared the SIP that was included in the approved provincial annual general appropriation of P4.5 billion for 2021.

Arigo went on that the SIP for vaccine procurement in Bohol is also in preparation for a possibility of insufficiency of the drug to vaccinate as many Filipinos in speed time.  This was one concern raised during the zoom conference of the governor and mayors on January 8 in Bohol.

The vaccine investment plan is expected to be endorsed by the Provincial Development Council (PDC) for the concurrence of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

Meanwhile, Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Remollo disclosed that the City has identified some P30M savings from the 2020 budget that can be used for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

Dumaguete City according to Remollo will also follow the centralized ordering of COVID-19 vaccines from the national government and will buy only one kind of vaccine. 

“The national government will decide which vaccine to procure and will be distributed to different cities and municipalities which is very logical. It will help us save money and the public is assured of the effectiveness of the vaccine since it is approved by FDA and endorsed by DOH,” Remollo explained.

Remollo added that this undertaking will be a tripartite effort among the city, provincial and national government. So far, the City has P30M if the national will provide another P30 million, that’s P60 million already and if the province will also extend its counterpart then there will be more funds to buy the vaccines for distribution locally.

 He hopes that COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out starting March this year.

As of January 10, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Dumaguete City is at 265 with 67 active cases, 185 recoveries, and 13 deaths while in Bohol there were only 18 active COVID-19 as of January 10.

The fear of the entry of the new corona virus strain to the country has kept government authorities on their toes, with this both local executives remind the public to continue to be extra careful against the virus infection and to follow the health and safety protocols all the time.