Koronadal City, South Cotabato – The Local Government Unit (LGU) of Jose Abad Santos (JAS), Davao Occidental headed by its Municipal Mayor, Atty. Jason John Joyce, visited and dropped by the Provincial Capitol of South Cotabato in order to attend the Orientation for the South Cotabato COVID-19 Contact Tracing System (SC-CCTS).
The SC-CCTS Implementing Team led by Information Technology Officer II Mr. Michael S. Galang and Provincial Legal Officer Atty. Marnito B. Cosep facilitated the orientation on August 19, 2020, at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) Mini Hall, Provincial Capitol Grounds.
Mayor Joyce brought along his team comprised of their Municipal Health Officer, Information Technology Officers, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer, and other Mayor’s Office Staff, to personally learn and apply the technical and other basic skills in using the SC-CCTS.
The Local Chief Executive first made a courtesy call before South Cotabato Provincial Governor Reynaldo S. Tamayo, Jr before proceeding to the orientation seminar. The former expressed his awe and gratitude to the latter for allowing other LGUs to use the system free of any charge.
As a token of appreciation to the Provincial Government of South Cotabato, the mayor handed over to the governor some native and local nito products woven by the Manobo and B’laan basket weavers from their municipality.
It has to be recalled that Governor Tamayo already declared last May that the SC-CCTS may be used and adopted by any province, or city/municipality, whether within or beyond Region XII, and that he will not ask for any kind or form of amount as payment for the locally developed system. He stated that this is his small way of giving back to the community and helping other leaders in this fight against COVID-19.
Before their entry to the borders of South Cotabato, Mayor Joyce and his team ensured that they have already secured a CCTS card for each of them, and they were pleased to find out that it took them less than five (5) minutes to register to the website.
JAS is the very first municipality outside Region XII to adopt and implement the said local contact tracing system, and the provincial government is grateful for its leaders’ trust and confidence.