When I learned that a state of calamity had been declared in Binalonan town because of the dreaded dengue fever, I worried. With 15 high school students downed by the disease in the town, and the subsequent suspension of classes at the Dona Eva Macaraeg National High School for three days to give way to fumigation, something may have gone very wrong.
But hearing Mayor Monching Guico say later on that he will veto the municipal council resolution when it reaches his desk, and that the dengue situation in the town is very manageable, I worried all the more.
Suddenly, I am hearing municipal officials who have discordant views about a situation that involves life and death of their constituents. It was either the mayor or the council that may have been misinformed about the town’s dengue situation or that one of them may have simply misjudged the situation.
I am sure that the municipal councilors had the best of intentions when they voted for the approval of a resolution declaring a state of calamity in the town. Without the mayor and the vice mayor in the town at that time, and with reports reaching them that a number of students had fallen ill from the fatal mosquito-borne disease, the councilors did what they thought was the right thing to do.
By declaring a state of calamity, the town can now spend its calamity fund for the purchase of necessary medicines for those afflicted as well as reagents for fumigation. The municipality can now also mobilize other government agencies to help in bringing back the town to normalcy.
But what was apparently missing in the state of calamity declaration was the assessment report from local health authorities. In other words, it lacked substance. The council should have at least summoned first the municipal health officer and asked him or her to report before the council the dengue situation in the town before passing the state of calamity declaration.
Had they done this, the councilors would have learned that there are certain parameters that health authorities have to follow before declaring a state of calamity and that to deal with the situation, a clean up campaign was better than fumigation. They would have also known that the reported number of victims, who come from different barangays, was not yet on an alarming level.
Pangasinan was worst hit by dengue in 1996, where scores died and hundreds of children were afflicted, but I do not recall any state of calamity being declared at that time.
Obviously, the municipal councilors, in this situation, relied only on what were informally reported to them by the people when they pushed the alarm button.
On the other hand, the municipal health officer should have taken the initiative in reporting the dengue situation to the council from the time the first dengue case was recorded in the town. In fact, he or she should have been submitting regular health situation reports to the council.
This regular reporting is a standard practice in the police, where daily incident reports are submitted to the mayor and the council, specifically, to the vice mayor and to the chairperson of the committee on peace and order and police matters.
Mayor Guico was right in deciding to switch off the alarm and in facing the dengue problem head on. At least, it averted what could have been a large-scale dengue scare not only in his town but in the whole province.
By the way, where was the mayor at that time? Just asking.
ENDNOTES: This corner sends its deepest condolences to the bereaved family of broadcaster Orly Navarrro’s wife, Ester, whose beloved Mamang in Binalonan town passed away last week. Don’t be sad now, kumare, because death, according to William Penn, is no more than our turn over from time to eternity… Mayor Benjie Lim and Councilor Nick Aquino are back from their three-week official trip to the US that took them to Honolulu, Seattle, Milpitas and the Bay Area, and Nevada. Let’s wait for their report... Finally, July 27 was the birthday of a dear friend who is now based in Roseville, CA -- Ms. Josie Tamondong. Ma’am Josie, as I fondly call her, and husband Ding were our tour guides in the state capital Sacramento when my wife and I were in California two years ago. Happy birthday, Ma’am Josie!
QUICK QUOTE: Don't sacrifice your life to work and ideals. The most important things in life are human relations. I found that out too late. -- Katharinde Susannah Prichard
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