Former Secretary of Health and Iloilo 1st district Representative Janette Loreto-Garin lashed out at Sec. Francisco Duque’s leadership when on a TV Patrol news segment released Friday night, Centers for Health Development (CHD) 4A Director Eduardo Janairo stated that the Philippines does not use meningococcal vaccine because it is not yet proven to be effective and is still under study.
Garin, who has training in Advanced Vaccinology, called on Duque to put order in his house.
“I call on Sec. Duque to discipline his people and hold them accountable for spreading disinformation. Declarations like that of Dr. Janairo’s can be misconstrued as a policy statement whether he was acting as a representative of DOH or not. Reckless utterances like this is detrimental to public health,” she said in a press statement.
The United States (USA) has already licensed two types of meningococcal vaccines – i.) Meningococcal conjugate vaccines (MenACWY); and, ii.) Serogroup B meningococcal vaccines (MenB) which have helped teens and young adults prevent its most common causes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the health protection agency that protects America from health and safety threats for both foreign and domestic, has seen meningococcal disease as a very serious illness where death can occur in as little as few hours.
“I am deeply concerned that these isolated cases might erupt into a widespread panic due to complete disregard to the truth: that we have a vaccine for meningococcemia proven to combat the disease,” Garin said.
Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a Working Group (WG) to prepare a Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) review of new evidence and advice to WHO on the use of meningococcal vaccines to mitigate the public health impact of the disease in May 2019.
The former Secretary of Health said the reason why the vaccine is not given routinely in the Philippine public health program is that the burden based on history is not that huge. But despite this, private patients and some doctors use this.
As a medical practitioner, Garin urged Filipinos who have symptoms of meningococcal disease to urgently go and see a doctor, especially if there is a persistent drowsiness, irritability, fever, children not feeding normally or if symptoms have come on or just worsened very quickly.
She further stood firm, maintaining that “the incidence, prevalence, morbidity, and mortality of many communicable diseases like meningococcemia will not rise if we subscribe to an adage which holds true even today – that an ounce of prevention is always better than a pound of cure.”
It can be recalled that this is the third time Garin called on the DOH’s attention regarding the misplaced programs of Janairo.
The first was about the useless dengue kits (loot bag with goodies) during dengue outbreak and second was the hiring of an event organizer posing as an expert panel in dengue only to find out that Vireoload Works was in the main business of providing cellphone load. (PR)

HINUNANGAN, Southern Leyte – Problem on low supply of water being experienced by the concessionaires of this town is now a thing of the past.
This after the Department of Interior and Local Government(DILG) funded the construction of a level III water system project amounting to P22 million for the town.
And this bit of good news was welcome by Dannieca Piga, who said that just like the more than 3,550 water members of the town, they have been complaining on the poor services being rendered by the local government run-water district office.
According to the 28-year old housewife, they have to wait for hours for their taps to have water which they uses for their daily needs.
“Problem on water is experienced during morning which is at its peak because many are using it for bathing,” Piga said.
Her family uses at least two pails of water for each person who takes a bath, this aside from cooking, laundry and other chores.
“We don’t mind if there will be an increase on water rate for as long as the water supply is enough and efficient,” Piga added.
With only one water system operating serving 3,552 water concessionaire, supply of water in this municipality, particularly within its town center, is not enough, as constructing an additional water system will be costly for the local government to build, Mayor Reynaldo Fernandez said.
Thus, they were grateful that the DILG provided them the needed funds to build another water system, the town mayor added.
The existing water supply coming from Magatas Spring would no longer be sufficient to supply the growing population of the town.
The Hinunangan Water District is expecting that an additional 1,000 households will benefit from this new water supply.
Mayor Fernandez said that supply of safe and potable water is one of the main problems of all local government units like Hinunangan.
“Without our government assisting disadvantage municipalities, this kind of high-impact project is unachievable for local government units with problem on funding.In most cases we will resort to loan but with this assistance, we are able to implement it because the national government provided us the funds,” Fernandez said.
The DILG provided P22 million fund for the construction of the new water system which involved the construction of the water plant facility equipped with modern filtration processing, construction of big tank with five cells for sanitizing the raw water from the source, development at the water source area and the pipelines, among other materials needed.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

JIPAPAD, Eastern Samar – The mayor of this town said that they have now reached 90 percent on the clearing operations involving public streets.
However, they have to finish their town fiesta first before they could demolish the remaining structures, town Mayor Benjamin Ver said.
According to Ver, these structures are located in the area leading to the town proper.
The town mayor said that the owners of these structures, mostly private houses, have asked the local government unit to allow them first to observe the town fiesta before they tear down their structures.
Jipapad, one of the remotest town in Eastern Samar, celebrates its annual fiesta every October 7.
Mayor Ver said that in view of the request of the house owners, they have asked the evaluators from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to give them grace period of at least 10 days due to this appeal of the owners.
The clearing operations being conducted by local government units across the country was in view of an order issued by President Rodrigo Duterte to clear all obstructions in public streets and roads during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) early this year.
LGUs were given 60 days to comply with the memorandum issued by the DILG which lapsed last Sept.30.
“We are already at 90 percent in clearing our roads within the town proper, our only problem is the more than 20 houses in the access road leading to the town,” Mayor Ver said.
“We asked the DILG evaluators to give us 10 days after the town fiesta celebration for the owners to demolish parts of their houses that obstructs the road,” he added.
Affected houses are all made of light materials and already marked by the local government.
“The owners volunteers to demolish portion of their houses encroaching the road. Our residents are cooperating because they see this program is implemented not only in our town but in the whole country,” Mayor Ver said.
Mayor Ver added that he is thankful for Pres. Duterte for issuing the order to clear the streets and roads from obstruction making it easier for local chief executives to implement.
“From that on, we will strictly implement that policy,” Ver said.
Personnel from the Municipal Local Government Operations Officers, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police, barangay officials and employees of the LGU enforces the clearing operations. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY-A progressive human rights group based in this city reported that three peasant members were detained by soldiers in Northern Samar on October 2, an allegation vehemently denied by the government troops.
Alexander Abiguna of Katungod Sinirangan Bisayas said that detained by the members of the 20th Infantry Battalion, which is based in Catubig town, Northern Samar, were Christian Sabado, who belong to a peasant group, Northern Samar Small Farmers’ Association (NSSFA), Anton Manoso, and Edson Piczon, whom he said to be village watchmen of Barangay Hinagonoyan, Catubig town.
Abiguna claimed that the three were on their way to Brgy. San Francisco, Las Navas town, also in Northern Samar, reportedly to conduct investigation on the pest infestation affecting the abaca industry in the town and the impact among coconut farmers on the low price of copra when they were apprehended by the government troops on that day at about 11 am.
“They were made to lie face down on the ground while the soldiers stepped on them multiple times. It also appears that they were manhandled and physically abused upon arrest,” he said.
Abiguna said that they condemns the ‘intimidation and harassment of the civilians as they demanded for the immediate release of the three.
But this allegations of Abiguna was dispelled by the military saying the three were not physically abused during their arrest.
In a post on their Facebook account, the 20th IB, which is under the command of Lt.Col. Juan Gullem, said they were not farmers contrary to Abiguna’s claims but members of the New People’s Army(NPA).
The government troops were in the area as part of their security patrol when they chanced upon Sabado and his companions who were said to have carrying firearms, explosives and subversive documents which resulted to their arrest.
And based on their questioning to Sabado, who is from Manila, he said that he was sent to Northern Samar to ‘propagate’ the white area operations of the CPP-NPA in the province long been considered by the military to still have an active insurgency problem in Eastern Visayas.
His companions, Manoso and Piczon, were identified by the military as regular members of the NPA.
“We assure the family and friends of (Sabado) and his company, now in the custody of PNP, are treated humanely in accordance to the rule of law,” it said.
A video, showing a clean-faced Sabado was posted by the 20th IB on their Facebook account to dispel claims of Abiguna that he was physically mauled and manhandled.
Sabado said that he is being treated well by both soldiers and police of Las Navas.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)