Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr of the Department of Foreign Affairs welcomed us and said "It is my pleasure welcoming you to this webinar. With over 4 Million deaths, the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that we need to learn more. No one is safe unless everyone is safe, we need to work together. I understand scientific competition, but timely information is essential in defeating it. The PH and China has cooperated including in kind and sharing donations. They were battling the virus still, but now has made return to work in almost 100% now. Our partnership made us feel we're not alone, thank you China from the bottom of my heart."
Mayor Benjamin Magalong the current PH Vaccine czar says "It's been a year already since the WHO declared this pandemic. Our usual peak season had to stop, we could have risen if we didn't take steps and done targeted action. We are working towards low and manageable level and doing a gradual re-opening activities in several provinces including Baguio. The population testing and contact tracing has continued and we're doing an equilibrium for health safety and economic recovery. It's a complex dance in keeping infections rate low and to avoid overwhelming our health facility. We need to curb the onslaught of the virus on our city and country. We put a premium to a feedback mechanism and adjust our decisions when it is deemed necessary. We advocate transparency, leadership in the community level and it will only work when majority of the population would work with us. Public health is a priority, for the long haul we will have a concerted effort to beat this disease with the use of digital tools, engagement with private sectors as vaccination sites. We need to gather feedback for the people we serve. The pandemic had us transform into a smart city and will happen on 2022. Use this as support system for the city and we have technical partners for our service delivery, government efforts, public safety, and connectivity will be the backbone for this challenge and perhaps put up an LGU managed city broadband network. This is our experience, and we hope this would be something that others would learn in responding to adversity and become resilient."