ILOILO – There was no need to place Calinog under a state of calamity despite the high number of hepatitis A cases in the town, Mayor Alex Centena said.
Centena said he was able to convince the Sangguniang Bayan that this was unnecessary. The number of cases was “under control,” he said.
Seventy-five students from Grades 7 to 12 at the Don Esteban Javellana Memorial National High School in Barangay Guiso tested positive for hepatitis A. Twenty-six were suspected to have been afflicted as well.
Municipal Health Officer Cesarey Mestidio thus recommended that a “state of emergency” be declared in Calinog.
Mestidio believed this declaration would help prevent the disease from spreading and enable the local government to provide the affected students with financial assistance for a repeat laboratory test.
Centena said he and SB members agreed to place under a state of calamity only the five barangays where most of the affected students lived – not the entire town and not under a state of emergency as Mestidio recommended.
Majority of the affected students were from barangays Guiso (10), Canabajan (26), Malag-it (11), Cabagiao (eight), and Lampaya (eight).
And yet still, this did not push through. No more cases were reported after the 101 suspected cases were recorded from July 25 to early August.
“Daw wala man kinahanglan nga i-declare kay kami sa local nasolbar namon
kay wala man na sige increase ang cases,” said Centena.
Still, the local government released a P2,000 cash aid for each of the 75 students who tested positive of hepatitis A for another laboratory test.
Moreover, Centena ordered the local government to strictly require sanitary permits and health cards from school canteen vendors and restaurants and their workers to prevent any more infection.
Food establishments without these requirements will have their business permits revoked, stressed the mayor./PN
