By Anton Luis Catindig
CITY OF MALOLOS – Bulacan officials recently starts its dry run implementation of service drop box contactless transaction with residents to avoid physical and face-to-face dealings amid the increasing cases of COVID 19 and as the province reverts to the stricter General Community Quarantine (GCQ).
Two field employees died of COVID 19 last week while two Capitol guards tested positive and are under quarantine.
Works in the Capitol were earlier suspended for a couple of days to give way for disinfection as other employees were reported to have also been infected.
The contactless transactions was implemented through a memorandum and in accordance with Executive Order No. 9 Series of 2021 issued by Gov. Daniel R. Fernando that adopts and implements the IATF Resolution No. 104 Series of 2021 following the announcement of Malacañang that placed Bulacan under general community quarantine (GCQ) status from March 22 to April 4, 2021 due to resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country.
Fernando said that the Capitol’s doors are closed but employees still works inside and will attend to the need of the residents who drop in boxes at the tables in makeshift tents at the back of the capitol their letter, request form, etc. needed to be sent or signed by officials, department heads, employees.
According to the memo, every office will provide a transparent drop box with proper label where various requests and documents of the residents will be dropped inside.
There are chairs in the tents where the people can wait until their concerns are attended to.
Fernando said such system was executed to protect the public as well as the employees from acquiring the deadly virus.
About 200-300 residents mostly indigent people piled up daily to the Capitol requesting mainly for medical support, hospitalization, medicines, cash money, etc other than different concerns like paying taxes, etc for the non-indigent.
“We hope to still continue provide utmost services to our people amid the pandemic using this system of drop boxes transaction and without physical contact or face to face transaction between our employees and our people,” the governor said.
The NCR plus bubble that is being enforced in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal are areas where entry and exit points are restricted except for essential travels and emergencies and as long as the travel is within the NCR bubble.
