Politics in SAP distribution in Dagupan

By Leonardo Micua

 

THE distribution of the SAP fund in Dagupan City was marred with accusations of biases by Barangay Health Workers who (not the barangay kapitans) were put in charge of identifying the deserving beneficiaries, but instead picked the recipients based on their color blue in the last election, whatever that means. Others picked their relatives as recipients.

If you will recall, most if not all, of the BHWs were handpicked by the new city administration as soon as it assumed the reign of power. Who do you think these denizens would pick to be beneficiaries of SAP if not their own ilk?

Some people were crying out loud, how come even single men in their barangays with no family of their own were given the perks while they, poor as a rat, were bypassed. I told them to bring this to the attention of DSWD if not the IATF or both.

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In the supplemental budget of more than P200 million just enacted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Dagupan last Wednesday, one of the items set to be funded for P2 million are equipment, reagents, and kits for COVID-19 testing. 

We hope it is the right testing kit, which can really give a more accurate result that should be procured by LGU Dagupan out of this public fund, otherwise this COVID-19 testing would be meaningless and not really of help in containing the spread of the coronavirus.

Incidentally, as we were about to write this column, we saw on Facebook a chart shared by Provincial Information Officer Orpheus Velasco, taken from the Department of Health portal showing the big difference between a RealTime Polymerase Chain Reaction and a Rapid Antibody-Based Test.

If not for this info, we would not have known that there’s a whale of a difference between the two. Written in Tagalog, we found that the samples being taken from a person in RT-PCR Test are swabs from the throat and inside the nose, while in RA-BT, the sample is the blood extracted from a person undergoing the test.

We came to note also that both these testing kits cannot just be bought over the counter in any drugstore. At the same time, the RT-PCR Test is being done in specialized laboratories, and in the RA-BT, it is done in hospitals and in other licensed health facilities.

In the first (RT-PCR Test), the result will be known in 24 to 48 hours and in the second, it is known in just only 15 minutes (that may be the reason why it is called a Rapid Test).

The most important distinction between the two is that the RT-PCR Test could detect the coronavirus itself while RA-BT can only detect the presence of antibodies that can fight the virus.

Can RT-PCR confirm a COVID-19 case? Yes, it can. The answer is in the negative for the RA-BT.

The first test can confirm if a person tested is positive or negative for COVID-19 while the result in RA-BT, whether positive or negative, needs to undergo RT-PCR testing yet.

Which do you prefer between the two? Mr. Velasco asked.

Reacting to the chart shared by Orpheus, Councilor Joey Tamayo posted: “Ay d pala sure ball sayang lan atik“.

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We wrote this because in our earlier column, we wrote that Mayor Brian Lim bought 1,000 Rapid Antibody-Based Test Kits for P1 million coming from his salary for eight months which he donated to the city of Dagupan. He, however, donated 500 of these at 100 each for Calasiao, Binmaley, Lingayen, Mangaldan, and San Fabian for their own use too.

We hope he still made good use of the 500 RA-BTK for Dagupan even if the results of these, as gleaned from the DOH chart, are not conclusive if only to show that his funds didn’t go to waste.

By the way, in a separate resolution on Monday, the SP of Dagupan authorized Mayor Lim to enter into a MOA with government-accredited and certified testing facilities, laboratories, diagnostic centers, and organizations for COVID-19/SARS-COV-2 tests.

Somebody told us the mayor plans to pick the Philippine Red Cross chapter for the job.

Meanwhile, many officials in the city are questioning the decision of Health Secretary Pingcoy Duque why he chose the Baguio General Hospital over the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City as testing center. Why, indeed?

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