BOCAUE TESTING CENTER NAMED IN HONOR OF LATE MAYOR
BULAP35-million testing center for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that is being built in this town will be named after the late Mayor Eleanor “Joni” Villanueva-tugna to honor her for initiating the project.
Guiguinto Mayor Ambrosio Cruz Jr., president of League of Municipalities of the Philippines (Lmp)-bulacan chapter, said the facility will be called “Mayor Joni V Testing Center” and will serve as a tribute to the “dedication and hard work” of Tugna, who died on Thursday.
The testing center will serve all 21 towns and three cities of Bulacan province.
Cruz said Tugna helped fight the spread of COVID-19 not only in her town but also in the entire province. “We lost an exemplary public servant. She gave her best even to the last minute of her life.”
Tugna, 42, was the daughter of Rep. Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” Villanueva of the Citizens
Battle Against Corruption (Cibac) party list, who is also the founder of the Jesus is Lord Movement. She died of sepsis secondary to bacterial pneumonia at St. Luke’s Hospital in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City on Thursday.
Cruz said Tugna attended meetings with the provincial Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases even when she was “obviously sick.”
“She would patiently wait at 3 a.m. for the delivery of vegetables from Baguio City so she could personally lead the distribution to her constituents,” Cruz said.
“Although feeling unwell and was told to go home [during a relief operation], she stayed and asked her staff to go home instead. That’s why we are naming the Bocaue testing center in her honor,” he said.
The facility is part of the planned Bocaue Trauma Hospital, a joint project of Tugna and her brother, Sen. Joel Villanueva.