TACLOBAN CITY – The governor of Northern Samar province has issued a memorandum mandating government offices at the provincial capitol to adopt alternative work arrangements for a month to help curb the rising coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the province.
In a statement on Wednesday, Governor Edwin Ongchuan said provincial government workers will have to follow the work arrangement from June 7 to July 7 this year.
“Due to the alarming increase of Covid-19 cases in the province and the entire Eastern Visayas region and the presence in the province of B.1.1.7 linage or variant Alpha, previously termed the UK variant, in order to protect the welfare of provincial government employees, the province will adopt the alternative work arrangement,” the governor said.
Those who will work from home are provincial government staff employed by the office of the vice-governor, Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) Office, Office of the SP secretary, tourism office, population office, internal audit office, cooperative and community affairs office, library office, livelihood and development office, environment and natural resources office, veterinary office, and administrator's office.
Those who will work as skeleton workforce are from the office of governor, assessor's office, legal office, management information systems office, public employment service office, provincial mining and regulatory board office, bids and awards committee offices, information office, planning and development office, and the offices of general services, accounting, treasurer's, agriculture, budget, civil security, provincial health, engineering, and human resource management and development.
Employees who will report on a regular schedule are those who are assigned at the provincial disaster risk reduction and management, provincial social welfare and development, provincial jail and sub-provincial jail, and the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital and district hospitals.
As of June 6, Northern Samar has recorded 1,748 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 1,580 recoveries, and 36 deaths. (PNA)