In response to the call of curbing the spread of COVID-19, every community in Cagayan de Oro City is doing everything it can to protect its people. Many have taken all the necessary precautionary measures to keep their community from getting contaminated. One of which, is Camp Edilberto Evangelista 4th Infantry Division, located in Barangay Patag. Its military frontliners constructed a foot bath with enough size in the entrance area. This will enable the people entering the camp to disinfect their footwear or the wheels of their vehicles.

 

Besides the foot bath, they also set up a washing area near the entrance gate so that everyone who enters the premises can wash their hands. Temperatures are checked by the military frontliners, too. All these measures are strictly implemented upon entering the camp to prevent any possible contamination. Nobody is exempted.

 

With these preventive actions, if not to ensure the optimum safety, it will somehow limit the risk of the community from getting infected into the lowest possible level. This is important as this puts the community in a position to bring the pandemic under control. A strict temperature check identifies easily those who are exhibiting fever. If somebody will be identified with fever, he or she will then undergo safety procedures and surely be advised to see a doctor .

 

The efforts of these military frontliners have earned appreciation from the community inside the base. “Dili pod baya lalim ang mag-atubang sa mga tao nga gasulod unya check og temperature, risky kaayo. Ang foot bath ila g’yud giayo og buhat aron naay disinfection sa tanan mosulod nga sakyanan.”

 

Each of them deserves a recognition with great value. Being a frontliner in this fight against the pandemic is like a suicide mission. Nobody knows when it is going to end. It is seemingly a deadly job to render.

 

Based on the unpredictable nature of this pandemic, it is expected that Camp Edilberto Evangelista 4th Infantry Division military frontliners will not loosen its grip over the strict implementation of these health-security measures.

 

The amount of sacrifice being made by these military frontliners exemplifies the true meaning of being a soldier: extremely brave and high-spirited warriors who are willing to defend the land and its people from the novel coronavirus.