Cagayan de Oro City Hall is working closely with housing developers as part of its efforts to fasttrack its socialized housing program for the city´s low income and indigent settler families (ISF), the city´s urban housing chief said Wednesday morning (Aug. 8).

“City Hall´s socialized housing program under Mayor Oscar Moreno´s administration won´t be remiss to both its target beneficiaries and its partners in development who include the housing developers. Dili ta dawat limpyo (We don´t insist on freebies). What City Hall can offer and assure to developers is suitable land and essentials like water and power supply,” Engr. Ermin Stan Pimentel, chief of the City Housing Urban Development Department (CHUDD) said in Wednesday morning´s press briefing.

Created in 2016, the CHUDD is one of City Hall´s key players in its resettlement program, whose beneficiaries include calamity victims like the families displaced by typhoon Sendong in 2011.

“We at CHUDD are continually reminded by Mayor Moreno to professionalize our engagement with developers by facilitating their requirements to ensure their support to the city´s housing program,” he said.

Under Republic Act 10884 or the Balanced Housing Development Program Act, developers are required to set aside 15 percent of the total land area for socialized housing projects or 15 percent of the total cost of housing project for identified beneficiaries.

The modified enhanced community quarantine recently imposed by the national government in the National Capital Region (NCR) bought time for Cagayan de Oro City Hall to prepare its community isolation units (CIUs) for arrivals in other provinces, Mayor Oscar Moreno said.

“The two-week MECQ only limited the number of sweeper flights from Manila to Cagayan de Oro City but there will be still be flights from Clark Airport, Cebu and Davao. What´s important is it bought us time to prepare our CIUs and allowed them to move more people out to the provinces,”Mayor Moreno said during Wednesday noon´s (Aug. 5) press briefing.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared a two-week MECQ upon recommendation from Health Secretary Francisco Duque III in response to calls by medical groups for an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to allow medical frontliners in the NCR time to prepare for the surge in COVID-19 cases.

At the same time, Mayor Moreno confirmed that the two-week MECQ bolstered their offer to house the COVID-19 positive cases in the province. “We already sent word to the local governments of Misamis Oriental about our offer. In offering our facilities to them in these difficult times, all of us should be guided by the virtues of courage, perseverance and generosity,” Mayor Moreno said.

Mayor Moreno said it takes courage for the city to offer their aid to their neighbors despite the real dangers posed by COVID-19.

“It also takes perseverance and generosity to care for their COVID-19 patients due to their limited resources but we take advantage of the MECQ to help our neighbors and by extension making it easier on the national government to handle their own cases,” Mayor Moreno said.

Minimum health safety protocols and the online or virtual setup for this year´s Higalaay Festival will prevent any crowding of people in all of its events, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno assured Wednesday noon, August 4.

“Lest we forget, the city fiesta is primarily religious in nature and the highlight this month is the installation of Archbishop Jose Cabantan as chief shepherd of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro,” Mayor Moreno said.

Archbishop Cabantan will replace outgoing Archbishop Antonio Ledesma in simple rites to be held on August 28. “Of course I met with the city police and the Incident Management Team of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Department (CDRRMD) to finalize security measures for the event to prevent overcrowding,” Mayor Moreno said.

City Tourism Chief Chedilyn Aissa Dulguime earlier said that they will disclose more details of the core and parallel events for this year´s Higalaay Festival which she assured will be held online through its Facebook page that was launched last Monday afternoon.

The online staging of events like the Kumbira Food Festival will also be held via Facebook Live in keeping with minimum health standards, Dulguime said.

Both Dulguime and Mayor Moreno assured that product sellers will still be allowed to sell their merchandise to the public with Dulguime saying this will be done through the festival´s Facebook page.

The Miss Cagayan de Oro pageant will also be held online while the annual fluvial parade will only feature 10 participants instead of last year´s 50 contingents.

Cagayan de Oro City Hall will continually strive to extend free medical services to the city´s indigent families despite the delays in payment claims from PhilHealth which is facing mounting unpaid claims from across the country´s hospitals, Mayor Oscar Moreno said Wednesday noon (Aug. 5).

“Ato ning serbisyong medikal libre ni alang sa katawhan sa Cagayan de Oro apan kon mabayran man sa PhilHealth (Our medical services are free for the people of Cagayan de Oro and if we are paid by PhilHealth) it´s a bonus for us since City Hall uses these payments to expand its services, acquire more facilities and medicines for our constituents,” Mayor Moreno said during Wednesday noon´s press briefing.

Cagayan de Oro City Hall provided PhilHealth coverage for 8,000 indigent households in the city but was unable to renew membership amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery said at least seven city isolation units used for housing returning Kagay-anons for their two-week quarantine are accredited for payment by PhilHealth.

Mayor Moreno, who described PhilHealth as a “lifeline” for local governments during the pandemic, voiced concern over reports about the agency´s fiscal problems which he said was aggravated in part by the closure of businesses whose owners were unable to remit their employees’ contributions.

Through PhilHealth, City Hall also provided free medical services to the city´s indigent beneficiaries through the city´s JR Borja General Hospital and its barangay health centers.

“As the country´s state insurance agency, PhilHealth needs to survive and it cannot be sustained by government alone which also has other programs to fund for Filipinos,” Mayor Moreno said.

If need be, Cagayan de Oro City residents should be reminded time and again to wear their face masks when going outside not just for compliance but also for their own protection.

“Di ta suot og face mask kon naa lang diha ang pulis kay ato ning proteksyon sa COVID-19 (Let’s not wear our face masks only when there is police around because our face masks are for our protection from COVID-19),” City Administrator Teddy Sabuga-a said during Monday morning’s (Aug. 3) virtual flag raising ceremony and program hosted by the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO) at City Hall’s grounds.

Sabuga-a said this days after a cell phone video went viral on Facebook showing a female commuter being made to get off of a passenger jeepney by passengers for refusing to wear a face mask. The female commuter was seen arguing with an elderly commuter who reminded her to wear her face mask prior to being told to get out of the vehicle.

“Ang atong pulis daghan kaayo areas i-patrol og og naa pa sila kampanya batik krimen so di sila maka-monitor 24/7 sa katawhan nga mo-comply sa pagsuot sa face mask. So ato silang tabangan og mag kooperar ta sa ila aron proteksyonan nato atong kaugalingon sa COVID-19 (Our police are busy patrolling areas and waging their campaign against crime so they cannot monitor 24/7 on people to require their compliance in wearing their face masks. So let’s help them by cooperating with them so we can protect ourselves from COVID-19),” Sabuga-a said.

In last Thursday noon’s (July 30) press briefing, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno said he was thankful to the passengers shown in the cell phone video for their vigilance in reporting violators of the city ordinance requiring the wearing of face masks during pandemics.

The City Health Office (CHO) said Thursday noon (Aug. 6) that it will check on the overcrowding of the Lumbia City Jail as part of preventive measures to protect the inmates from COVID-19 infection.

“I instructed the CHO´s safety officer Dr. Ted Yu to visit and inspect the Lumbia City Jail to verify there since we need to ensure compliance of the minimum health safety standards as set by the Department of Health (DOH),” City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery said during Thursday noon´s press briefing.

This development came amid a July 29 circular issued by the Supreme Court confirming the suspension of commitment orders by the lower courts for the transfer of convicts from jails under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) nationwide to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City until the end of August. The city´s jail facility is based in Barangay Lumbia.

Along this line, Dr. Nery said Col. Henry Dampal, Cagayan de Oro City Police Office chief, will submit a letter request to City Hall´s Emergency Operations Cluster (EOC) for a temporary holding area to house those they arrested.

Mayor Oscar Moreno said as far as the city is concerned, there should be a swift and decisive resolution of cases of these suspects to avoid overcrowding in the city jail.

“The best solution would have to be swift administration of justice. Regardless of how many facilities one builds, if the cases drag on UN resolved, there will be overcrowding,” Mayor Moreno said.

As of August 4, the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Northern Mindanao has risen to 616.

Out of the total positive cases, 536 came from Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs) or Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs).

Positive cases in Cagayan de Oro City alone reached 169 (actual count), wherein 137 came from LSIs/ROFs.

Figures from CDO also indicated 62 people on quarantine, 100 recoveries, and 7 deaths.

Records from the Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler (FASSSTER Philippines) have indicated that the case doubling time for CDO is at 14.41% with 15.38% Critical Care Utilization Rate (CCUR) for the period of July 10-18, 2020.

FASSSTER Philippines is an evidence-based forecast of possible cases and scenarios on the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has placed the entire Region 10 under the Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) status until August 15, 2020.

The MGCQ status is the transition phase between GCQ and New Normal when the following temporary measures are relaxed and become less necessary: (1) limiting movement and transportation, (2) the regulation of operating industries, and (3) the presence of uniformed personnel to enforce community quarantine protocols.

#NagkahiusaBatokCOVID19 #CDOCOVID19Response #iCanDOit #HealAsOne #COVIDI19PH

Despite the substantial reduction in City Hall´s revenues caused by the closure of businesses hard hit by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it´s full steam ahead for the Moreno adminstration´s infrastructure projects.

During Monday morning´s (Aug. 3) virtual flag-raising ceremony and program hosted by the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO), City Administrator Teddy Sabuga-a said the road cementing projects benefitted vegetable and fruit vendors living in the city´s mountain barangays.

“Naa ko ka-storya nga vegetable and fruit vendors nga naka-apil sa Kadiwa On Wheels (mobile market project of the Department of Agriculture with City Hall) og ila ko gi-ingna nga kon wa pa na sementado nga dalan di masayon ilang panghatod sa ilang produkto padulong sa mas daghan pa nga customers (I talked with vegetable and fruit vendors who joined the Kadiwa On Wheels and they told me that if not for the cemented road they would find it difficult to bring their produce straight to more customers),” Sabuga-a said.

A road cementing project worth P5.9 million that connects Sitio (zone) Balongkot in Barangay (Village) Dansolihon and Sitio Pasau, Barangay Pigsag-an is nearing completion. It is one of several infrastructure projects pursued by Mayor Oscar Moreno in partnership with the 19th City Council headed by Vice Mayor Joaquin Raineir “Kikang” Uy.

Other projects include a road cementing project between Barangays Pagatpat and Lumbia which eventually produced the Camarahan Ridge that gained popularity over social media due to its scenic view of the city landscape.

It is August once again and this means a month of activities for Cagayan de Oro City with the annual Higalaay Festival. Under the new normal, things are going to be a bit different for this year’s city fiesta. All of the events will be broadcasted on the official social media channels of Cagayan de Oro City. 

To kickstart the festival, ANC broadcast journalist and news anchor Lia Andanar will give a talk on August 6, Friday. 

The Mindanao Fashion Summit (Aug 7 and 21) will showcase the works of Cagayan de Oro fashion designers with a weekly theme. 

For foodies, Kumbira on Thursdays (Aug 12, 19, and 26) will feature fiesta-specific dishes cooked by different members of the Cagayan De Oro Hotel And Restaurant Association (COHARA).  

Sundays (Aug 8, 15, and 22) are for Cagayan de Oro 101, where select speakers will talk about the history of the city, its heroes and landmarks, and present businesses. 

Local artists will be featured in the city’s Virtual Concert (Fridays, Aug 14 and 21) and Higalaarts (from Aug 16 to 18). The Oro Photographic Society will also feature photos by its members and will host a photography contest open to all (Aug 15). 

Businesses and companies are invited to give a talk about the past on Higalaay Festival Hour Flashback (Aug 24 to 26).  

In keeping with traditions, A Fluvial Procession will take place and Miss Cagayan de Oro 2020 will be crowned during the course of the Higalaay Festival. 

Preluding the city fiesta, Novena Masses are set from August 20 to 28. The city fiesta pays homage to the city patron saint, St. Augustine of Hippo, who died on August 28, 430 AD.     

For more information, please like and follow the official Higalaay Facebook page: https://web.facebook.com/thehigalaayfestival/