BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines — “Let us continue to stand united, help each other survive, and move on.”
This was the call of Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia as he called on the people to continue its show of unity, citing as example the way people stayed at home yesterday, Sunday “in response to our call for a total lockdown”.
“The sight of empty streets everywhere was almost hard to believe. It was a show of unity we have never seen before,” he said in a statement furnished to the local media.
Leonardia said the show of support is both “heartening and hopeful”, and shows “incontrovertible proof that we can and will survive and triumph over COVID-19.”
“It means that we are capable of standing up together to the real and dreadful possibilities that can bear down on us by COVID-19,” he said.
The mayor also said that the cooperation of Bacoleños proves their “indomitable spirit of hope and resiliency that no adversity will ever break us”
“It is even more meaningful that this happened as we prepare for the 40th anniversary on April 22 of the sinking of MV Don Juan – a communal tragedy which had failed to bring us down. As we survived the last World War, the Don Juan tragedy, and the Sugar Crisis of the 70s, so shall we, with God’s grace and mercy, triumph over COVID-19,” he added