Pangasinan town execs at odds over ‘state of calamity’

BINALONAN, Pangasinan — The municipal council here has declared a state of calamity due to reported dengue cases involving some students.

The council acted on reports that a teacher and more than 10 students of the Juan Macaraeg National High School and a Grade 1 pupil of the Binalonan North Central School were afflicted with dengue fever, a mosquito-borne ailment, said councilor Noel Bautista, who chairs the committee on health and sanitation.

Except for the grade schooler, all patients are now out of danger.

The council’s move, however, was criticized. Mayor Ramon Guico Jr. said he would veto the declaration of a state of calamity.

Guico, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, said the reported dengue cases were just isolated, thus the situation does not warrant such a declaration.

Provincial board member Danilo Uy, husband of Vice Mayor Myrna Bell Uy, said there was no urgent need for the move.

He said the council approved the declaration last Monday while his wife was in Manila. — Eva Visperas, Cesar Ramirez