LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Some sixteen businesses in the municipality were found by the municipal special task force on health and safety protocols to have violated the prevailing basic health and safety protocols pursuant to the guidelines governing the implementation of the community quarantine to combat the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Vice Mayor Roderick Awingan, chairman of the municipal special task force on health and safety protocols, said that last Wednesday, the different teams dispatched by the municipal government to conduct the simultaneous inspection were able to inspect some 120 establishments in the different parts of the municipality on their compliance to the prevailing health and safety protocols.
He added of the number of inspected businesses in the locality, 16 were issued the appropriate notices of violation after the same were found to have committed violations on the prevailing standards governing the operation of businesses ranging from the absence of logbooks, sanitizing mats, physical distancing, lack of business permits, outright sale of liquor, among other noticeable violations of existing ordinances.
The vice mayor claimed that of the 16 businesses found to have violations, 2 were banks, an express courier, computer shops and other commercial centers that are located in the different parts of the municipality.
The municipal special task force on health and safety protocols are composed of personnel from the municipal government, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the La Trinidad Municipal Police Station (LTMPS).
According to him, the task force conducts regular inspection of the operating business establishments in the municipality to ascertain their compliance to the rules and regulations governing the implementation of the community quarantine to ensure that the establishments will constantly comply with the basic protocols, particularly the mandatory wearing of face masks, the putting in place of foot baths, log books and sanitizers, observance of physical distancing by the employees and the transacting public and the observance of personal hygiene.
Earlier, Vice Mayor Awingan disclosed that some 90 percent of the business establishments that had been allowed to operate in the municipality had been compliant to the prevailing implementation of the basic health and safety protocols to combat the spread of the deadly virus.
He stated that the members of the task force remain committed in effectively and efficiently discharging their duties and responsibilities to ensure that operating businesses will adhere to the strict implementation of health and safety protocols to guarantee the health and safety of the public, especially those that are transacting businesses with the said establishments.
He called on owners of businesses to be consistent in complying with the prevailing health and safety standards because it will greatly help in ensuring the non-transmission of the virus in the community.
By Hent
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis