Rains threaten city’s anti-dengue campaign

The rains are threatening the city’s campaign against dengue.

This is because the lagoons that were earlier drained by the City’s Anti-Dengue Task Force might accumulate rainwater again and become breeding sites of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

Councilor Gerardo Carillo, action officer of the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council who heads the campaign against dengue, said that they already drained both the lagoons at the Gaisano property near the Cebu Institute of Technology and the ones in sitio Bugnay Dos last week.

He explained that the lagoon in sitio Bugnay Dos was already drained and covered with filling materials last Sunday. To prevent stagnant water, he added that the volunteers from the barangay have also built a temporary drainage in the area.

On the other hand, he said that the lagoon in the Gaisano property, eventhough not confirmed as breeding site of mosquitoes, was also drained last week. However, water might still accumulate in the area because it has no proper drainage. With this, Carillo said that they are now preparing the program of works for the construction of a drainage system in the area.

Today, he said that they would proceed to the pond in Lahug, which is also confirmed as breeding site of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. But Carillo admitted that this is not the solution to the problem because even if water is drained from the lagoon, the rains will cause water to accumulate in the area again.

To address the problem, the city will be meeting with Redemptorist priests and the management of the Metro Cebu Water District on Friday. The Redemptorists priests allegedly own the property while MCWD used to maintain and beautify the area.

Carillo said that based on the information that they have gathered, the lagoon was built to be a recreational pond. He said that MCWD was allegedly the one who planted trees and beautified the area.

Today, the Anti-Dengue Task Force is also scheduled to deliver its yearend report before the members of the City Council during its regular session.

The city health department earlier reported that dengue left 51 Cebu City residents dead in 2007 and at least 2,107 infected with the virus. This figure is more than double the figures in 2006, which was 957 cases and 27 deaths.

The surge in the number of dengue cases alarmed city officials prompting the City Council to declare the entire city under a state of calamity. - Wenna A. Berondo/QSB