LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – In true spirit of Bayanihan, Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap appealed to the Local Government Unit of Baguio City through Mayor Benjamin Magalong to recall the Advisory restricting travel of Benguet residents to Baguio City particularly those coming from the Municipalities of La Trinidad, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay.
When Baguio City opened their doors to tourists from other regions, Benguet LGUs allowed their passage and did not impose restrictions for their entry. At the height of stricter nationwide quarantine because of the pandemic, Cong. Yap made sure to reinforce the capacity of Baguio General Hospital for faster testing through the provision of additional PCR Machine and Automated Extractor Machine in the absence of Benguet own Molecular Laboratory. He know BGH caters the whole of Cordillera and to some extent, the Northern Luzon for COVID testing, hence, he purchased additional extractor machines that it can use when we retrieved our equipment for the soon to be opened BeGH Molecular Laboratory in Benguet.
When there were incidents of COVID outbreak in Itogon recently, Mayor Magalong was more than willing to help us and provide isolation facilities for Benguet residents.
He believes that all of these happened because Baguio City and Benguet treat each other like family, and they are. People are united in more than hundred ways they can ever imagine. “During the past interactions and conversations, it is very apparent that you and I have mutual respect for each other and whenever one of us speaks, the other one listens like a big brother,” Cong. Yap said.
In line with this, he appealed to city officials to recall the advisory that restricts travel from Benguet to Baguio. “Allow me to point out though that I am in no way against stricter measures to contain the virus. We are on the same side and maybe it is best for us to discuss this further and come up with a win-win measure,” he added.