Koronadal City, South Cotabato – The municipalities of Del Carmen and Pilar in the world-renowned Siargao Islands have signified their intention to borrow and implement the South Cotabato COVID-19 Contact Tracing System (SC-CCTS).
In an e-mail dated September 18, 2020, Del Carmen Vice Mayor Alfredo M. Coro II conveyed that while they have yet to open their airport operations, their local sea port has been operating for the longest time, and that their contact tracing efforts are limited to manual operations. Further, they have also opened their tourism sites since June of this year, to help out and assist their people’s livelihood.
The vice mayor said that their local government unit (LGU) has been very impressed with how South Cotabato was able to address the COVID-19 pandemic and that they are more impressed with the developed contact tracing system of the province.
Del Carmen is one of the municipalities in Siargao Islands and the host to the Siargao Domestic Airport and the Del Carmen Sea Port. Presently, it has twenty (20) barangays and twenty three (23) sitios, under the leadership of Mayor Proserfina M. Coro. It is one of the most visited places on Siargao because of its impressive beauty and natural scenery such as the Sugba Lagoon, and its white-sand beaches composed of vast mangrove trees that are protecting wildlife animals.
To note, the Mangrove Aerial View is the largest protected area under the National Integrated Protected Area System Act due to the mangrove forests of Siargao. It is the second largest in Mindanao since it has approximately 4,000 hectares of contiguous mangrove trees. Out of the fifty four (54) mangrove species worldwide, forty four (44) can be found in Del Carmen.
In the same way, the staff of Pilar Municipality Mayor Maria Liza G. Resurreccion communicated through a series of phone calls and text messages that their LGU has been groping their way forward to find an effective and efficient response to the COVID-19 pandemic, considering that the number of pulmonary cases in their area has been constantly rising.
Pilar is politically subdivided into fifteen (15) barangays, and its economy is largely based on fishing and agriculture. Its major agricultural produce are rice and coconut (copra), and various homestay facilities are available in town for tourists.
Its most popular tourist destination is the Magpupungko Lagoons and Rock Formations. It is famous for its lagoons which can only be seen during low tide, and it also features picturesque limestone rock formations.
The two (2) abovementioned towns have already undergone the first orientation which tackles the primer on the SC-CCTS, and the second orientation which discusses the technical features of the system. The orientations were conducted by the SC-CCTS development and implementation teams led by Mr. Michael S. Galang, Information Technology Officer II of the Provincial Government of South Cotabato.
Photo Credits: Journey Era/googleimages
