Deretsahan
No MERS-CoV in Pangasinan
By Bebot Villar
THERE were five — not one — Pangasinan overseas Filipino workers (OFW), who were on the same Saudi Airlines flight with a Filipino nurse infected with the dreaded Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus or MERS-CoV.
The good news is lahat ng mga ito at ang mga iba pang nakasabay ng nurse sa flight ay nag-negative sa MERS-CoV, after a series of tests na isinagawa ng Department of Health (DOH).
Nalaman na lang kasi na infected pala ng MERS-CoV ang nurse matapos itong magpagamot sa isang ospital a few days after her arrival. And everyone in the flight had already gone to their own homes across the country at that time!
They disembarked from that flight and were allowed to leave the airport because not one passenger showed signs of being infected by MERS-CoV. May incubation period daw ang virus na ito nang ilang araw bago lumabas, katulad noong nangyari nga sa nurse.
Fortunately, DOH managed to trace all the passengers at agad din naman na-mobilize ang mga health workers in the country to help locate the passengers ng flight na iyon.
Hindi naman puwedeng i-quarantine ang lahat ng passengers. That would have been an overreaction. Ang puwede lang magawa ng DOH ay ipanawagan sa mga pasaherong galing Middle East na magkulong muna ng ilang araw sa kani-kanilang mga bahay bago gumala.
While it is not airborne o isang virus na inililipad ng hangin, there’s still that strong possibility that it could spread in our country, lalo na sa mga densely-populated barangays.
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Until now, the province and two towns have not been getting their fair shares of national wealth tax for hosting the San Roque Dam that generates power for the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC).
Under the law, the national wealth tax represents one percent of the gross revenue of a renewable energy firm, like the SRPC, that is paid directly to local governments that host the power facility.
Mula kasi noong 2011, ang laki ng ibinaba ng tax share na ibinibigay sa probinsya at sa mga bayan ng San Manuel at San Nicolas, the host towns of the San Roque Dam.
Sa record ng provincial treasurer’s office, at least P1.5 million per quarter or at least P6 million sa isang taon ang natatanggap ng lalawigan, it became P338,000 per quarter or halos P1.2 million lang kada taon.
For small towns like San Manuel and San Nicolas, napakalaking halaga ang nawala sa kanila. The slashed amount deprived them of more classrooms, sources of potable water supply or medicines for their health centers.
Ang masaklap dito, government could not explain kung bakit nangyari ang biglang pagbaba ng kanilang mga tax shares.
Sa inis ng probinsya ng Benguet, another host town of San Roque Dam, nag-file ito ng demanda sa Energy Regulatory Board at asked that the ERC to cancel the certificate of compliance ng SRPC. Ibig sabibin, to stop the operation of SRPC.
The ERC is now hearing Benguet’s petition and, according to Provincial Treasurer Marilou Utanes, the provincial government will just wait for the results. Sana naman, the issue will be resolved soon para naman maibalik sa probinsya at sa dalawang bayan ang nararapat nilang share sa national wealth tax.
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Napakarami pala ng aso sa Pangasinan!
Ang estimate ng Provincial Veterinarian’s Office ay may halos 270,000 dogs in the province! If the population of Pangasinan is 2.7 million, it means may isang aso for every 10 persons.
NO wonder, halos wala nang barangay kung saan wala kang asong maririnig na tumatahol, lalo na sa gabi!
But more than the noise that they create, only about 20 percent, or one of five dogs, had been immunized. This means, most of the dogs ang posibleng may rabies.
While vaccination of dogs is free, marami pa ring mamamayan ang misinformed about rabies. Sabi nila, hindi na raw kailangang bakunahan ang kanilang mga aso because their dogs don’t bite!
Well, records at the PVO show that as of February this year, five deaths have been recorded because of rabies. Last year, 10 deaths were recorded, a 100% increase from the five deaths recorded in 2013.
Clearly, more people are dying from rabies because more dogs have rabies. Siguro naman, sapat na ang mga bilang ng mga namatay dahil sa rabies upang magsilbing babala sa mga dog owners na ipabakuna ang kanilang mga aso.
Let us be responsible pet owners!
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