PDRRMC eyes state of calamity for North Cotabato over dengue
COTABATO CITY -- The North Cotabato Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) on Tuesday passed a resolution urging the provincial board to declare state of calamity in the province due to dengue.
Governor Nancy Catamco, concurrent PDRRMC chair, said dengue cases in the province have already reached an “epidemic threshold” with 16 deaths from January to August 12 this year.
The dengue fatality figure is 221 percent higher compared with the same period last year.
Despite massive government drive against dengue-carrying mosquitoes, many communities in the province are still plagued by dengue, the governor said.
“This is a matter of life and death. From now on, no Cotabateño should die of dengue, we are acting quickly,” Catamco assured the public, in a statement issued after the PDRRMC
meeting at the provincial capital.
The resolution was unanimously approved in Tuesday’s meeting and was forwarded to the Sangguniang Panlungsod, chaired by Vice Governor Emmylou Mendoza.
Once the province is placed under state of calamity, the provincial government may utilize five percent of its annual budget to fund activities related in the fight against dengue.
Only recently, the towns of Banisilan and Alamada have separately declared state of calamity in their localities, with cases reaching 159 and 342, respectively. Three of the total 16 dengue deaths in the province were from the municipality of Alamada.
The Integrated Provincial Health Office, led by Acting Health Officer Joel Nelton Sungcad, has been at the forefront of the ongoing anti-dengue campaign and the Aksyon Barangay Kontra Dengue program of the provincial government.
Meanwhile, from January to August 13, the total number of dengue reported from various hospitals in Region 12 rose to 30,440.
“This is already above epidemic level,” said Jenny Panizales, DOH-12 prevention officer and spokesperson on dengue.
South Cotabato has the highest number of deaths at 24 as of Aug. 11, 2019.