Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar
(MARK VILLAR FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
Held via Zoom, the online event was attended by the members of the DPWH Management Committee; the regional, bureau, project, and service directors; and also district engineers. The virtual signing was witnessed by PACC officials led by its chairman, Greco B. Belgica.
“This event solidifies our partnership with the PACC under the Project Kasangga –Tokhang Laban sa Korapsyon. This is our pledge to the people and our President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that we will continue to implement stringent action against perceived corruption in the department, to safeguard people’s money, and that the wrong-doing goes punished,” Villar said during the signing.
Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo
In 2017 I attended the Emerging Leaders Program at the Harvard Kennedy School which was chaired by Dr. Elaine Kamarck and Dr. Christopher Robichaud. In our class on ethics we discussed about the responsibilities of public action via a simulation exercise of an unfolding pandemic.
The question is fairly simple what decision would you make to save your country from a crisis which you had no prior experience to draw from. We knew from the onset the state of the country, the infection rate, the public moral and the likelihood of a country collapse. Every team which represented a particular sector knew how to “win” the game. Decisions were time bound and with limited information.
Published April 6, 2021, 2:52 PM
Four more government-built isolation facilities can soon accommodate more than 700 coronavirus patients.
The government is set to open the newly-built isolation facilities located in Subic, New Clark City, Manila, and Bataan this week, according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
Roque said the isolation facility in Subic Manila Times Colleges has a 300-bed capacity while a government building within the New Clark City could accommodate an additional 165 beds.
An isolation facility built within the Eva Macapagal Terminal Manila has a 200-bed capacity while the temporary facility at the Orion Bataan Port Terminal will have 100 beds.
On top of these four isolation centers, Roque cited that a modular hospital within the Quezon Institute has already been built by the government. The facility, that offers 110 beds for moderate and serious coronavirus cases, is expected to be formaformally opened Tuesday.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar
(MARK VILLAR FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
But acting with haste doesn’t mean that the health and safety of the workers should get compromised, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said.
“With just a few more days to fully complete the new Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge, we are mindful that a single case of COVID-19 in the project can lead to an interruption, if not total work stoppage,” Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar said.
Villar recently issued Department Order (DO) No. 30, which contained revised guidelines for the implementation of infrastructure projects from both the public and private sectors during an ECQ, modfied ECQ (MECQ), general community quarantine (GCQ), and modified GCQ (MGCQ).
Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar
(MARK VILLAR FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO)
The guidelines, spelled out in Department Order (DO) No.30, follows recommendations from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and other relevant government agencies while balancing economic growth through infrastructure development with public health and safety, the DPWH said in a statement on Monday, April 5.
The DO says that all essential public and private construction projects shall be allowed at full operational capacity in areas under ECQ and Modified ECQ, subject to strict compliance with the new construction safety guidelines, with the exemption of small-scale projects.
“In ECQ and MECQ areas, we are prohibiting the operation of small-scale projects that are private and personal use, and which, because of scale, would impractically be unable to comply with our guidelines,” Villar said.