Palawan barangay, home of the indigenous Tau't batu cave people, records 800 malaria cases

Barangay Ransang, an area in Rizal municipality with a high population of Pala’wan indigenous peoples (IP), has recorded an estimated 800 malaria cases since January this year.

Rutchel Laborera, acting health officer of the town, said Thursday that among Rizal’s 11 barangays, Ransang has remained consistent in recording the highest incidents of the mosquito-borne disease.

“Ransang pa rin ang may mataas na kaso ng malaria sa bayan natin. Last year, sila din, kaya ang health office natin ay talagang consistent din ang monitoring natin dyan sa area na yan at talagang nagbabantay ang mga Barangay Health Workers (BHW) natin sa Ransang,” she said.

“Ilang beses din tayo noon dyan nakapag-deklara ng malaria cases outbreak sa Ransang, pero ngayon under close monitoring talaga ang barangay na yan pagdating sa malaria sa buong probinsya natin sa Palawan,” Laborera added.

Most of the cases, she said, involve adults, and dispatched health workers are focusing to ensure that they get help

She said they are cooperating on this with the Provincial Health Office (PHO) and the Kilusan Ligtas Malaria (KLM).

“Lagi silang may mga anti-malaria awareness dissemination sa mga communities to prevent more cases,” she said.

Among the other interventions is also the distribution almost every month of long-lasting insecticide nets or LLINs to the residents with the Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI).

Based on recent data by the KLM, Palawan has already recorded 4,830 positive malaria cases this year.

Aside from Rizal, the towns with high cases are Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, and Quezon in southern Palawan. (Content reposted from Palawan News Online)

PHOTO CREDIT: Frontier Ventures

 

Zero Covid barangay in Cebu City to receive P500,000

Aiming to have zero coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) case by yearend, Mayor Edgardo Labella on Friday announced that he is giving a PHP500,000 reward to every barangay (village) that would be Covid-free from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.

During the turnover of the new Cebu City Quarantine Center (CCQC) by the Department of Public Works and Highways to the city government here, Labella said the city government conceptualized the reward system in order to operationalize the challenge given by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, the Cebu Covid-19 response overseer, to have a zero-Covid capital city.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Cimatu said this city that used to be tagged as a coronavirus epicenter has now flattened the curve and already known as the "epicenter of recoveries".

This development prompted Cimatu to challenge the city to aim for zero Covid-19 cases.

“Mr. Mayor, I am confident that you can have zero Covid here in Cebu,” Labella quoted Cimatu as saying.

“We will try our best to achieve that ideal, because we are inspired” by how the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has addressed the coronavirus crisis in the city, the mayor answered Cimatu.

Due to a spike of Covid-19 cases here last June, President Rodrigo Duterte instructed Cimatu to oversee the government response to the health crisis, mainly the open defiance of the residents of the minimum health standards such as mask wearing and physical distancing, among others.

But Cimatu said it is now possible to aim for zero Covid-19 cases in Cebu City.

“I don’t really foresee a problem in our tasks especially in your organization here because you are already exposed to the day to day works since the start of the crisis,” he told the Cebu media.

Cimatu recalled that when they arrived last June, the number of patients and deaths here was alarming.

“If you look at the data, more than 600 deaths all from Cebu City since June and bigla na lang naging (suddenly becomes) zero. This is an indication of success, that effort of the (Emergency Operation Center) team paid off,” he said, adding that for seven days now, the city has zero fatalities due to Covid-19. (Content reposted from Philippine News Agency)

IN PHOTO:. As the Covid-19 curve is flattened, Environment Secretary and Cebu overseer Roy Cimatu (inset, left) on Thursday (Oct. 22, 2020) challenged Mayor Edgardo Labella to make Cebu City Covid-free. Labella on Friday (Oct. 23, 2020) announced that he is giving a P500,000 incentive to every barangay with zero Covid-19 case from Nov. 1 to December 31. (Photos courtesy of IATF and Jun Nagac)

 

Baguio City barangays to process business registration onsite

Mayor Benjamin Magalong has approved a city council resolution bringing business registration to the Summer Capital’s barangays.

The resolution called for the barangay registration to avoid crowding and queueing at City Hall as a means to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). It especially targeted services and trades, which proliferated in response to closure of regular trades during implementation of quarantine measures. 

Among others, the resolution sought to provide easier registration for online sellers, home-based micro enterprises, producers of ready-to-eat food, farmers in direct selling, rolling store operators, delivery service owners and overseas Filipino workers engaging in alternative livelihood. 

 The registration, assisted by the city council’s committee on market, trade, commerce and agriculture, is free of charge. 

Meanwhile, to also aid in making registration easier, the Association of Barangay Councils office is providing simplified registration forms. The forms shall be collected by the Special Services Division of the City Mayor’s Office for recording and classification.(Content reposted from The Manila Times)

Dumaguete barangay residents clamor for solution to flooding woes

Residents in Barangay Banilad here are urging village and city officials to address the perennial flooding problem that has not been solved over the past years and which continually pose a threat to lives and properties.

Retired Brig. Gen. Rey Lyndon Lawas, in an interview Friday, said he talked to Banilad village chief Pacencio Maquiling, Jr. regarding the problem that has spanned several administrations already.

Lawas disclosed that in a meeting with the barangay council early this week attended by some complainant-residents, “we found out nga wala pa na brief ang mga barangay officials of any plans (the barangay officials have not been briefed yet on any plans) to address the problem.”

He said he was told the city has allocated a budget of PHP8 million for the flooding problem but there are no specifics yet.

It was agreed that the barangay shall invite concerned heads of government offices like the city planning, city engineer’s, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and others to present and brief the affected barangay residents of the plan at the soonest time possible.

“Just today, I requested to propose a barangay resolution requesting these concerned offices to present the plan before the affected residents to make it more official,” he said.

The move comes as residents in the areas of Barangays Banilad-Mangnao experienced heavy flooding on Sunday night caused by rainwater that gushed down from the mountains.

Some residents complained that their houses were flooded for hours up until after midnight.

The following day, the affected residents were cleaning up mud and debris from the flooding which took more than a day or two to finish.

DPWH personnel were also seen cleaning out drainage systems.

Veronica Paras Gascon, the next-door neighbor of Lawas, said she watched as the floodwaters poured out onto the road in front of her house, turning it into a mini-river.

Gascon said it has always been like this for more than a decade, with several officials making promises that were never fulfilled.

Connie Gregore, a person with disability, shared the same sentiments, saying that she is worried because there are two other PWDs in her home.

Gregore said she will attend the next meeting with barangay officials and will rally behind whatever has to be done to get the attention of concerned officials.

Lawas said that he will initiate a campaign to identify the number of households affected by the flooding that takes place more frequently these days than in the past years as well as a signature campaign to petition a faster and concrete response to the problem.

He said the barangay chairperson told him that the mayor has assured to deal with it once the pandemic is over.

However, residents are becoming restless and fearful that if not given immediate attention, the next huge flooding might just claim a life. (Content reposted from Philippine News Agency)