MANKAYAN, Benguet – Connecting with the national agencies and other stakeholders to secure Covid-19 vaccines for its constituents, especially the farmers, is a priority “moving forward” plan of the municipal government of Mankayan, alongside continuing to minimize and manage the town’s Covid cases.
“We need to secure vaccines for our farmers to be able to establish food security,” Mayor Frenzel Ayong said during the Laging Handa network briefing hosted by Presidential Communications Operations Office Sec. Martin Andanar.
Ayong stressed the need to safeguard the health and safety of the farmers who are working hard to ensure food sufficiency even during the pandemic.
“Kailangan tuluy-tuloy ang galaw ng mga farmers natin to secure the provision of food para sa atin and for other parts of the Philippines,” Ayong said, citing that 80 percent of the semi-temperate vegetable supply in the country comes from Benguet.
He also reported that local farmers, despite being affected by the pandemic themselves, have been donating their produce to residents, to other parts of Benguet, and nearby areas.
In the national vaccination program, priority sectors to be immunized are frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable sectors such as senior citizens and indigents.
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said LGUs play significant role in the Covid-19 vaccination program such as in identifying priority sectors to be vaccinated. – Redjie Melvic M. Cawis
April 27, 2024
