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Friday, August 19, 2005
Irate mayor vetoes resolution on dengue
BINALONAN -- Mayor Ramon Guico, Jr. vetoed a resolution of the Municipal Council declaring Binalonan a calamity area due to cases of dengue, a disease caused by day-biting mosquitoes.
Guico said he had to rush home here from Manila after listening to a television report that his town was declared a calamity area for dengue, greatly alarming residents of the town and people from the adjacent municipalities.
"I am vetoing the resolution because that was premature and was passed without any basis at all," said Guico, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines and also of the Pangasinan Mayors League (PML).
Chiding municipal councilors for the fiasco, Guico said there is nothing to be alarmed about because dengue cases in the town, upon official verification, are within manageable level.
He said the Municipal Government is undertaking preventive measures through fogging operations and urging the people to clean their home and surroundings.
The resolution was passed last Monday during a regular session presided over by Councilor Francis Tinio in the absence of Vice Mayor Myrnabel Uy, who was in Manila to renew her US visa.
Guico said there are procedures to be observed and facts and figures that should have been established before an area is declared a state of calamity for any kind of diseases.
He said the resolution was passed without any consultation with the Municipal Health Officer, Dr. Marcelo Patawaran.
Councilor Noel Bautista, chairman on the committee on health, sponsored the resolution based on initial reports that there were up to 15 people, mostly students from the Don Juan Macaraeg National High School (DJMNHS), who were downed by dengue fever.
Guico wondered why the Municipal Council passed the resolution when Patawaran reported only minimal cases of dengue in the town since last week.
"Actually, what was officially reported to me was that there were only six persons afflicted with dengue in the town but most of these were already discharged from the hospital after having received blood transfusion and given vitamins," he said.
He said the Municipal Council should have exercised circumspection because this was a very serious matter and can catch the attention of the whole nation as it apparently did.
Antonio Melanes, principal of the DJMNHS, admitted there were at least 10 dengue victims in his school but all of them are now well, including two others who remained at the Villaflor Doctors' Hospital in Dagupan City. No death has been reported, he added. (Pangasinan Star/Sunnex)
(August 16, 2005 issue)
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