Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte donated to Bacolod City a Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction machine with 20 sampling kits Monday.
Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, accompanied by Councilor Cindy Rojas, Councilor Renecito Novero, City Administrator Em Ang, and several City Hall executives, received the RT-PCR machine upon its arrival at the Bacolod-Silay Airport from Davao via Manila Monday afternoon, a press release from the city said.
“This is a big, big help in our fight against Covid and it comes at a time when we need it the most. The RT-PCR machine will help augment and speed up our testing capacity as the surge of Covid-19 cases in Bacolod City continues,” Leonardia said.
‘UPLIFTING AND INSPIRING’
“What makes this uplifting and inspiring is the fact that Mayor Sara has personally volunteered to offer this to us in Bacolod. Indeed, a concrete show of her concern and affection for Bacolodnons. We are happy to be among her favored ones. For this we are truly grateful and appreciative. What a big help from someone with a big heart for Bacolod. Madamo gid na salamat Mayor Sara in behalf of Bacolod,” Leonardia added.
Mayor Sara, who is the daughter of President Duterte, is expected to participate in the virtual turnover of the machine, a Molarray MA-6000 Real-time Quantitative PCR, that will be arranged by the offices of the two mayors.
Also joining the welcoming delegation at the airport were supervising and administrative officer Federico Guanzon Jr., executive assistants Jose Ma. Vargas and Meneil Lopez, and former councilor Roberto Rojas.
Assisting them were Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines area manager Percy Malonesio, airport security chief Jimmy Tambase, and Cebu Pacific personnel.
Ang, who is also the executive director of the Emergency Operations Center, said the EOC has tested 78,491 since the start of the pandemic.
“While this is a big number already, the new RT-PCR machine that will operate in Bacolod will further accelerate our effort to locate where Covid is,” she added.
Bacolod City has recorded a total of 7,707 Covid-19 cases, as of May 3, the press release added.*
