Attacked by killer mosquitoes - Government's failure to curb dengue

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever has indeed become the leading cause of death and hospitalization of children in the Philippines today.

Statistics of dengue related deaths are alarming. From January to August this year, a total number of 45, 333 dengue cases have been reported. There have been 267 deaths so far. Most of the cases come from the National Capital Region (10,487), Central Luzon (7,566), CALABARZON (6,488), Ilocos Region (4,981) and Cagayan Valley (3,079). Hotspots in the NCR are Quezon City (3,034), Manila (1,093), Caloocan (1,270), Valenzuela (782) and Pasig (707).

Studies suggest that dengue infections have increased over the years due to climate change. We have more rain (La Niña phenomenon) and more heat (due to the EL Niño phenomenon). The Aedes mosquito is able to breed in areas where rainwater has accumulated (in plants, containers, esteros/ canals, water sewages, etc.). These mosquitoes are able to thrive faster in the heat. The rising temperatures speed up development of the larvae. With the combination of the rain and the heat we have quite a production of dengue mosquitoes.

Both the national and local government has failed to address the dengue situation. It has turned worse! The squatter areas where poor hygiene and sanitation is quite obvious have become breeding points for these deadly mosquitoes. Take a peek at the small river ways or esteros in the different barangays. You will see how the local governments have neglected the filth and scam which accelerate the proliferation of many bad bacteria particularly causing the Aedes-borne disease. In fact, they have not been able to control the dengue problem which has become an epidemic.

The poor squatter areas and the esteros are major threats to the health of the people. I do not understand why we encourage such living environments. Isn’t it a crime to encourage such habitats? Why haven’t the mayors taken action into improving the living conditions of our people? By doing so, they will surely and most definitely elevate their lives.

Isn’t it the national as well as the local government’s responsibility to ensure the cleanliness of every community? Where are the public funds going? Why can’t they ever give the proper services to the communities? This is why it is important to elect an educated official. Well, even an educated official (for that matter) if driven by personal desires will ignore the basic needs of his/ her constituents. Need I say more? I rest my case.

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A couple of months ago, I wrote about the ridiculous overlapping and confusing services of the MMDA, the LTO and the LTFRB. Little did I know that one day I would experience this frenetic craziness myself.

Last week at around 10:30 am, my van was side swept by a bus with plate no. TWN 737 at the Magallanes flyover. Despite my driver’s efforts to stop the bus, the driver did not stop – he sped away. My driver called for police assistance and was told to call the MMDA patrol to accompany them to the nearest police station to file a police report. Meantime at the office, my secretary started to call the proper authorities. She was told that MMDA could identify the bus through their CCTV camera along EDSA. When she called MMDA, she was told to call MMDA Metro Base. After several attempts, she was able to finally talk to a certain Vanessa Vasquez and asked if it is possible for them to flag down the bus since there was a plate number given. Ms. Vasquez gave the SLEX number and told my secretary to ask for their help since our vehicle was heading south. Vanessa also asked us to call the LTFRB to find out who owns the bus.

Guess what? Upon calling the LTFRB, we discovered that the plate number is a unique one assigned to a sedan taxi operated by NRS transport. It did not belong to the bus. Susmariosep!

We were quite frustrated when we were told that LTFRB does not have the facility to flag down errant buses. According to the person who answered the phone, they do not have a patrol. Again they asked us to get help from the MMDA. We were just tossed and turned and left without a solution.

With such a lousy system – this case is history! You will never get any help from government – it’s a sariling sikap (‘help yourself’) kind of thing.

Why do we have these agencies anyhow when citizens don’t get efficient services from them? In fact, they confuse the people even more. I hope P-Noy and his team can come to the rescue. They must straighten up the roles of the MMDA, LTO and LTFRB – or remove all and just establish one efficient office.

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Yesterday was Ninoy Aquino’s 28th death anniversary. I remember that very day 28 years ago. My father was anxiously waiting for a call. He played classical music and read a book while waiting. He was melancholy. I tried to make him smile but he was serious and nonchalant. I let him be. After an hour or two in the solitude of our home, the phone rang. He listened to the caller and then put the phone down. His face turned gray. I had never seen him that way.

For a writer who was under house arrest at that time, I think and very much believe that even for a split second he had lost hope. Ninoy’s death brought out more anxiousness into our spirits – we had lost a hero, a hero who could have saved us from ‘darkness’. Little did we know that his death would be the beginning of a new era in our country.

We need more Ninoys who will have the spirit to be courageous to seek truth and justice in this country. Ours is a very young country, we need to strengthen its foundations with better values and principles. As my father once wrote:“This is a time for us to remember a man who believed the Filipino was “worth dying for”, and from him gather the renewed resolve that the Filipino is worth living for, as well. Most politicians bet on a sure thing. Ninoy gambled on the goodness and sense of decency of the Filipino. A pragmatist would have kept himself safely in the United States preserving his life “until a better day”. But Ninoy was a romantic who believed that promises must be kept, pledges must be redeemed, and death – if awaited him – must be faced in order to show the people that there are things more important than life.”