LAOAG CITY (September 02) – The City of Laoag has been placed Wednesday under a state of calamity due to the rising number of dengue cases here.
The city council chaired by Vice Mayor Eddie Domingo had unanimously passed a resolution declaring the entire Laoag City under the state of calamity during its regular session upon an urgent recommendation of City Mayor Michael V. Fariñas.
Fariñas said that based on the City Health Office report, a total of 192 cases had been recorded in the city and three dengue flu virus patients have died. However, city councilor Dr. Dax Dacuycuy had a latest report stating that over 200 dengue cases were monitored in the city with four alleged fatalities.
The Mayor believed that the declaration will expedite the release of emergency funds to address the dengue outbreak in the city.
It was learned that during the staff meeting with the different department heads held last Tuesday (August 30), Mayor Fariñas stated that there was already the need to declare the city under state of calamity based on the alarming report of City Health Officer Dr. Renato Mateo.
As this developed, City Administrator Cipriano Martinez disclosed that more fumigation machines would be purchased immediately to be distributed to all barangays as one of the priorities to combat the spread of the dread dengue virus-carrier mosquitoes.
Dr. Mateo pointed out that his office should not be blamed for failure to contain the dengue outbreak in the city. He said that his office had doing their job in informing the public by conducting information dissemination.
In fact, he said that early this year, CHO had already received a Department of Health directive on the conduct of massive information drive against this disease.
Fariñas also appealed to his city constituents to fully support the city government’s anti-dengue campaign in an effort to totally eliminate this deadly public menace by observing the 4 o’clock clean-up habit inside and outside the house, make sure that no stagnant water in discarded containers, used tires, flower bases, bottles, etc as well as pour in rock salts on stagnant water drainage canals and other suspected mosquitoes breeding places.
Last Friday (September 3), Fariñas also called a meeting attended by DOH representative Dr. Arsenio Gerardo and all 80 barangay chairmen. They talked about the ways and measures in keeping their respective barangays safe from dengue attack. He said that all barangays with reported dengue cases should be fumigated in order to contain the spread of the dengue virus-carrying mosquitoes. (EDG)
