Arroyo to use PNP, AFP vs SARS quarantine breakers
April 27, 2003 | 12:00am
The entire police force, military and other law enforcement agencies will be deployed to enforce any health quarantine that the government may impose to stop the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the country, President Arroyo said yesterday.
"Violators will be charged for breaking the law," the President said in a radio address a day after the Department of Health confirmed that the country already had two deaths from SARS and two other people were infected with the virus.
Speaking on state-run Radyo ng Bayan, Mrs. Arroyo defended the government’s strict quarantine and immigration procedures from criticism that the measures are "overkill."
"This is not just an issue of human rights, but an issue of human survival," Mrs. Arroyo said as she explained her order for law enforcement agencies, local governments and village authorities to support the containment campaign.
Citing the legal tenet of "salus populi suprema est lex (the welfare of the people is above all laws)," the President reiterated the sweeping powers she extended to Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit to contain the contagious viral infection.
"Due to its highly contagious nature and considering the danger it poses to public health, SARS is classified as a quarantinable disease," the President said.
Dayrit was named chairman of an 11-member SARS Crisis Management Committee which is tasked to "contain, control, prevent and otherwise restrict the spread of SARS in the country."
The committee will enforce "rigid screening and identification of SARS suspects" at all ports of entry, as well as "effective quarantine and proper isolation procedures, including community containment centers."
She authorized Dayrit to call upon the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), as well as other government agencies, to enforce quarantines and compel public compliance.
Police may set up "checkpoints and other means of curtailing the movement of concerned persons, vehicles, animals" to prevent the spread of the disease.
Under the still unnumbered executive order, Dayrit can create SARS outbreak response teams to screen possible SARS cases and the implementation of effective quarantine and proper isolation procedures, including community containment measures.
She also tasked National Security Adviser Roilo Golez to assist Dayrit by coordinating intelligence and evaluating information on the SARS threat. They are to share their strategic assessments of the SARS threat with Dayrit and other concerned authorities.
The SARS crisis management committee will implement these strict measures "until such time (Dayrit) shall declare the country free from the SARS contagion."
Public officials found guilty of violating the executive order will be charged administratively in accordance with civil service laws.
The President has also empowered the Bureau of Quarantine and International Health Surveillance to conduct "examination of incoming and outgoing vessels and aircraft, surveillance over sanitary conditions, including the detention, isolation and quarantine of cargoes, passengers, crews and all personal effects" to stop SARS-infected people and cargo, unless otherwise declared by Dayrit.
Dayrit was also empowered to close schools, suspend classes or use school and other buildings for containing the spread of the epidemic.
Mrs. Arroyo urged the public to strictly follow guidelines issued by health authorities, including immediately reporting SARS symptoms such as high fever, coughing and difficulty breathing.
"We must be strict in implementing containment measures against SARS," she said. "Anyone who willfully evades a health check on entry into the country or who gives false information will be charged… We will not allow the lack of discipline to undermine the welfare of the people."
"One of the gravest challenges we are facing today is the SARS disease," the President said. "I understand the concern of our people, but I appeal to all to stay calm. However, we must remain alert and cautious at all times."
The President said she will release P500 million to upgrade facilities at selected hospitals that will manage SARS cases.
Aside from San Lazaro Hospital and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Mrs. Arroyo said additional hospitals in Cebu, Davao, Laoag and Olongapo cities will be designated SARS centers. Each region will also have at least one hospital as a SARS center.
The P500 million is on top of the P1 billion ($18.7 million) emergency fund she earlier ordered the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to set aside for the fight against the disease.
The President is ready to tap other sources of funds if the initial amount of P1 billion is not enough to stop the spread of SARS.
The President also said she will propose a health emergency fund for the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which will hold a SARS summit in Thailand on Tuesday.
The President said that for the public to remain calm, "we have to clarify" the information about SARS the public is given.
"I hope the public will feel more secure if they realize that a SARS patient is infectious only when that SARS patient is exhibiting the symptoms and the 14 days when the symptoms begin, but not before the symptoms are exhibited," she said.
She also cautioned journalists who conduct interviews of people placed under quarantine for being a possible SARS case, some of whom complained they were subsequently ostracized.
Dayrit said that such apprehensions regarding journalists were valid since they were, in fact, "contacts" of those under suspicion of being infected with SARS.
Dayrit suggested that journalists protect themselves by wearing masks and using a disinfectant after going to places under quarantine.
On Friday, Dayrit, who has been insisting for weeks that the Philippines is SARS-free, announced that a nursing aide who returned from Canada had died of SARS, and that an autopsy on her father showed he also died of the disease.
Other cases included a German businessman — who frequently traveled to Hong Hong — who was hospitalized but recovered after showing SARS-like symptoms, and a 45-year-old worker who returned to her home province from Hong Kong, Dayrit said.
The cases were previously designated "suspected" and "probable" SARS. But Dayrit said the earlier classifications had been dropped to end public confusion.
"There are only two classifications we have now: SARS suspect and SARS," he said.
A SARS suspect, according to the technical definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), is one who is running a fever and has a history of contact with a SARS case who traveled to SARS-affected areas.
A classified SARS case fulfills the two criteria set for a SARS suspect and also exhibits difficulty breathing or pneumonia-like symptoms.
Another suspected SARS case — an x-ray technician who attended to the nursing aide in a government hospital — is recovering and is being treated for typhoid and bacterial pneumonia at the RITM, he said. A health official said the technician was not likely a SARS victim.
Dayrit said health officials were closely monitoring people who’d been in contact with the nurse and her father. He said Thursday none of those under observation showed SARS symptoms.
Relatives and those who came in contact with the Filipino worker from Hong Kong, now quarantined in her provincial home, also have not shown any SARS symptoms, Dayrit said. He said it was possible she had tuberculosis rather than SARS.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said the Philippines is already feeling the effects of having four confirmed SARS cases.
"The impact is already being felt. Libya and Turkey issued an advisory on the Philippines," he said.
Ople said the country’s image would depend on how reasonable security precautions will be adopted.
The Philippines, he said, has been doing its best to fight the SARS outbreak and should not become be the subject of travel advisories since local transmission had not been rampant.
"Our policy is to protest any actions from countries that will issue an advisory against Filipinos on SARS, regardless of the country," Ople said.
He added that "it takes a certain scale for a country to be classified as a SARS-infected country. These are extremely isolated cases. There has been no local transmission and these are few expatriates coming home, bringing home the virus. But the scale is infinitely small."
The Philippines was not included in the travel restrictions recently adopted by Northern Marianas which has suspended the issuance of authorization to board for tourists and authorization for entry for contract workers.
There are around 19,000 Filipinos in Northern Marianas.
According to Philippine consular officials based in Saipan, the issuance of these authorizations has been suspended for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
China, on the other hand, announced its willingness to participate in the special ASEAN summit on SARS.
A Chinese official who asked not to be named confirmed that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the summit proposed by Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, even if they are not part of ASEAN.
Ople, for his part, said he does not see any objection to the presence of China’s representatives in the summit, but added that allowing a non-ASEAN member to attend the summit will be the prerogative of the host.
The President also confirmed her participation in the summit and is set to present a plan for ASEAN to have a common SARS fund.
"This (fund) will be made available to the ASEAN secretariat for the purpose of coordinating the actions of the member-states, for funding the necessary research efforts to get to the bottom of SARS and develop the necessary antidotes to this menace," Ople said.
He added that the summit participants "already have the ASEAN foundation, which can be used for the common SARS fund. The intention is, of course, to source these funds from the member-states of the ASEAN."
The President will be accompanied by Dayrit, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo, Manila International Airport Authority general manager Edgardo Manda and other officials concerned with the security and management of the country’s ports of entry.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija, a municipal official yesterday belatedly denied that a five-year-old boy from Barangay Keysiwan was infected with SARS.
Municipal health officer Dr. Helen Torres told The STAR that the boy, Erwin Tumale, tested negative for SARS. The boy was tested last Wednesday at the RITM.
In a telephone interview, Torres said Tumale, who returned home from Canada last April 12, suffered from loose bowel movement and not SARS.
Last Tuesday, news broke out that Tumale was the first suspected SARS case in Nueva Ecija. The STAR earlier sought out local officials for comment but failed. — With Charlie Lagasca, Aurea Calica, Manny Galvez, AFP
"Violators will be charged for breaking the law," the President said in a radio address a day after the Department of Health confirmed that the country already had two deaths from SARS and two other people were infected with the virus.
Speaking on state-run Radyo ng Bayan, Mrs. Arroyo defended the government’s strict quarantine and immigration procedures from criticism that the measures are "overkill."
"This is not just an issue of human rights, but an issue of human survival," Mrs. Arroyo said as she explained her order for law enforcement agencies, local governments and village authorities to support the containment campaign.
Citing the legal tenet of "salus populi suprema est lex (the welfare of the people is above all laws)," the President reiterated the sweeping powers she extended to Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit to contain the contagious viral infection.
"Due to its highly contagious nature and considering the danger it poses to public health, SARS is classified as a quarantinable disease," the President said.
Dayrit was named chairman of an 11-member SARS Crisis Management Committee which is tasked to "contain, control, prevent and otherwise restrict the spread of SARS in the country."
The committee will enforce "rigid screening and identification of SARS suspects" at all ports of entry, as well as "effective quarantine and proper isolation procedures, including community containment centers."
She authorized Dayrit to call upon the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), as well as other government agencies, to enforce quarantines and compel public compliance.
Police may set up "checkpoints and other means of curtailing the movement of concerned persons, vehicles, animals" to prevent the spread of the disease.
Under the still unnumbered executive order, Dayrit can create SARS outbreak response teams to screen possible SARS cases and the implementation of effective quarantine and proper isolation procedures, including community containment measures.
She also tasked National Security Adviser Roilo Golez to assist Dayrit by coordinating intelligence and evaluating information on the SARS threat. They are to share their strategic assessments of the SARS threat with Dayrit and other concerned authorities.
The SARS crisis management committee will implement these strict measures "until such time (Dayrit) shall declare the country free from the SARS contagion."
Public officials found guilty of violating the executive order will be charged administratively in accordance with civil service laws.
The President has also empowered the Bureau of Quarantine and International Health Surveillance to conduct "examination of incoming and outgoing vessels and aircraft, surveillance over sanitary conditions, including the detention, isolation and quarantine of cargoes, passengers, crews and all personal effects" to stop SARS-infected people and cargo, unless otherwise declared by Dayrit.
Dayrit was also empowered to close schools, suspend classes or use school and other buildings for containing the spread of the epidemic.
Mrs. Arroyo urged the public to strictly follow guidelines issued by health authorities, including immediately reporting SARS symptoms such as high fever, coughing and difficulty breathing.
"We must be strict in implementing containment measures against SARS," she said. "Anyone who willfully evades a health check on entry into the country or who gives false information will be charged… We will not allow the lack of discipline to undermine the welfare of the people."
The President said she will release P500 million to upgrade facilities at selected hospitals that will manage SARS cases.
Aside from San Lazaro Hospital and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Mrs. Arroyo said additional hospitals in Cebu, Davao, Laoag and Olongapo cities will be designated SARS centers. Each region will also have at least one hospital as a SARS center.
The P500 million is on top of the P1 billion ($18.7 million) emergency fund she earlier ordered the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to set aside for the fight against the disease.
The President is ready to tap other sources of funds if the initial amount of P1 billion is not enough to stop the spread of SARS.
The President also said she will propose a health emergency fund for the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which will hold a SARS summit in Thailand on Tuesday.
"I hope the public will feel more secure if they realize that a SARS patient is infectious only when that SARS patient is exhibiting the symptoms and the 14 days when the symptoms begin, but not before the symptoms are exhibited," she said.
She also cautioned journalists who conduct interviews of people placed under quarantine for being a possible SARS case, some of whom complained they were subsequently ostracized.
Dayrit said that such apprehensions regarding journalists were valid since they were, in fact, "contacts" of those under suspicion of being infected with SARS.
Dayrit suggested that journalists protect themselves by wearing masks and using a disinfectant after going to places under quarantine.
On Friday, Dayrit, who has been insisting for weeks that the Philippines is SARS-free, announced that a nursing aide who returned from Canada had died of SARS, and that an autopsy on her father showed he also died of the disease.
Other cases included a German businessman — who frequently traveled to Hong Hong — who was hospitalized but recovered after showing SARS-like symptoms, and a 45-year-old worker who returned to her home province from Hong Kong, Dayrit said.
The cases were previously designated "suspected" and "probable" SARS. But Dayrit said the earlier classifications had been dropped to end public confusion.
"There are only two classifications we have now: SARS suspect and SARS," he said.
A SARS suspect, according to the technical definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), is one who is running a fever and has a history of contact with a SARS case who traveled to SARS-affected areas.
A classified SARS case fulfills the two criteria set for a SARS suspect and also exhibits difficulty breathing or pneumonia-like symptoms.
Another suspected SARS case — an x-ray technician who attended to the nursing aide in a government hospital — is recovering and is being treated for typhoid and bacterial pneumonia at the RITM, he said. A health official said the technician was not likely a SARS victim.
Dayrit said health officials were closely monitoring people who’d been in contact with the nurse and her father. He said Thursday none of those under observation showed SARS symptoms.
Relatives and those who came in contact with the Filipino worker from Hong Kong, now quarantined in her provincial home, also have not shown any SARS symptoms, Dayrit said. He said it was possible she had tuberculosis rather than SARS.
"The impact is already being felt. Libya and Turkey issued an advisory on the Philippines," he said.
Ople said the country’s image would depend on how reasonable security precautions will be adopted.
The Philippines, he said, has been doing its best to fight the SARS outbreak and should not become be the subject of travel advisories since local transmission had not been rampant.
"Our policy is to protest any actions from countries that will issue an advisory against Filipinos on SARS, regardless of the country," Ople said.
He added that "it takes a certain scale for a country to be classified as a SARS-infected country. These are extremely isolated cases. There has been no local transmission and these are few expatriates coming home, bringing home the virus. But the scale is infinitely small."
The Philippines was not included in the travel restrictions recently adopted by Northern Marianas which has suspended the issuance of authorization to board for tourists and authorization for entry for contract workers.
There are around 19,000 Filipinos in Northern Marianas.
According to Philippine consular officials based in Saipan, the issuance of these authorizations has been suspended for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
China, on the other hand, announced its willingness to participate in the special ASEAN summit on SARS.
A Chinese official who asked not to be named confirmed that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the summit proposed by Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, even if they are not part of ASEAN.
Ople, for his part, said he does not see any objection to the presence of China’s representatives in the summit, but added that allowing a non-ASEAN member to attend the summit will be the prerogative of the host.
The President also confirmed her participation in the summit and is set to present a plan for ASEAN to have a common SARS fund.
"This (fund) will be made available to the ASEAN secretariat for the purpose of coordinating the actions of the member-states, for funding the necessary research efforts to get to the bottom of SARS and develop the necessary antidotes to this menace," Ople said.
He added that the summit participants "already have the ASEAN foundation, which can be used for the common SARS fund. The intention is, of course, to source these funds from the member-states of the ASEAN."
The President will be accompanied by Dayrit, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo, Manila International Airport Authority general manager Edgardo Manda and other officials concerned with the security and management of the country’s ports of entry.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija, a municipal official yesterday belatedly denied that a five-year-old boy from Barangay Keysiwan was infected with SARS.
Municipal health officer Dr. Helen Torres told The STAR that the boy, Erwin Tumale, tested negative for SARS. The boy was tested last Wednesday at the RITM.
In a telephone interview, Torres said Tumale, who returned home from Canada last April 12, suffered from loose bowel movement and not SARS.
Last Tuesday, news broke out that Tumale was the first suspected SARS case in Nueva Ecija. The STAR earlier sought out local officials for comment but failed. — With Charlie Lagasca, Aurea Calica, Manny Galvez, AFP
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