Cortes to provide more meds, classrooms in next term

IMPROVING health, education and infrastructure in Mandaue City will be the main priority of the Cortes administration as it received a fresh mandate after the May 9, 2022 election.

Reelected Mayor Jonas Cortes told the media Thursday, May 19, 2022, that for the next three years he plans to equip Mandaue’s 27 barangays with an adequate supply of medicine, specifically the basics such as paracetamol.

He also acknowledged the increasing number of dengue cases in Mandaue and the threat of the new Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 of the Covid-19 virus, of which local transmission has been detected in the National Capital Region, Western Visayas and Palawan.

He said he would meet with the city’s health officials to create a substantial plan to prevent the outbreak of dengue. He also plans to have a clean-up drive in the city to remove stagnant water that is the main source of the dengue carrier mosquitoes.

Additionally, he plans to strengthen the precautionary health measures for Covid-19 in the city that had been somewhat set aside during the election period.

Education

Amid the threat of Covid-19, Cortes also plans to address the problem of the lack of classrooms in the city’s public schools to ensure that students abide by the social distancing protocol.

He said the government would provide more funds to repair and build more classrooms in preparation for the planned face-to-face classes in 2023.

This will include maximizing the spaces on campuses and buying more land for schools.

To help improve Mandaue City’s quality of education, he intends to expand the Mandaue City College (MCC).

He said the City would use some areas in the Mandaue Sports and Cultural Complex as the state college’s laboratories and computer rooms.

Cortes added that the city government, together with Rep. Emmarie “Lolypop” Ouano-Dizon, the city’s first representative of the Mandaue City Lone District, would try to fast-track the construction of Phase 1 for the MCC’s transfer to the Mandaue City Jail’s area by 2023.

“We hope to construct additional buildings for the city jail as we have already provided land for it. I hope we can do it by next year, but we cannot wait for the total transfer. So I would suggest constructing the Phase 1 near the area of MCCTEST (Mandaue City College Technological Entrepreneurial Skills Training Center) so that we can have a medium-rise facility for the MCC there,” he added.

A new building is already being built for the jail in Dunggoan, Barangay Basak. When this is completed, the jail will transfer there, and MCC will occupy the area currently used by the jail.

They also will continue declogging of the city’s drainage to address its flooding problem.