Quezon City to provide temporary shelter for frontliners

Quezon City signed an agreement with the private sector to provide frontliners experiencing discrimination in their residential areas a temporary place to stay, as they are now considered modern day heroes for providing their services to COVID-19 patients.

Mayor Joy Belmonte said Rainbow Place Dormitory in Tandang Sora agreed to provide an initial 80 rooms for the city’s frontliners from multiple public and private hospitals who have observe strict social distancing measures for working closely with COVID-19 patients.

The agreement was reached between the QC LGU and Rainbow Place Dormitory through the efforts of officer in charge Mona Celine Yap, head of the Small Business Cooperatives Development Promotions Office (SBCDPO).

“Malaking tulong ito sa ating mga frontliners, lalo na sa ating health workers, na nakararanas ng diskrimasyon at pangungutya sa kanilang mga lugar dahil sa kanilang trabaho (This is a big help to the frontliners especially to the health workers who have been victims of discrimination and ridicule in their places of residence due to the nature of their work),” said Yap.

“This cooperation shows that the private sector and the local government truly cares for the well being of our frontliners,” she added.

Yap said Rainbow Place has allocated 20 rooms in Building Two, 14 rooms in Building Three, 24 rooms in Building Four, and 18 rooms in Building Five for the city’s frontliners.

“The local government will make the necessary preparation of the rooms and the proper arrangement with our frontliners,” said Yap.

Meanwhile, the QC Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office yesterday conducted a simultaneous decontamination and disinfection campaign in the city’s six districts as part of efforts to combat the deadly virus.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), fire volunteers, fire brigades, and barangay officials participated in the activity, according to QCDRRMO head Mike Marasigan.

Decontamination operations, aimed at containing and controlling the spread of the virus in the city, started on March 10.

“Since the virus has been spreading rapidly, the QC government decided to conduct simultaneous decontamination operations in all affected barangays to decontaminate the virus,” said Marasigan.

He added that local government also covered barangays and communities not yet affected by COVID-19 so as to prevent the virus from spreading to these areas.