Barangay Pooc registers first dengue death

CEBU, Philippines – A two-year-old girl is the latest victim of the dreaded dengue disease in Talisay City, bringing the total number of deaths there for this year to five.

Jessa Alquizar, a resident of sitio Tabay, barangay Pooc, died last Friday, four days after she was taken to the state-run Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City because of high fever.

Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Osmundo Manreal, who is also the barangay Pooc chairman, said that Alquizar is the first fatality of dengue ever re-corded in their village this year.

The city health office has registered 196 dengue cases in Talisay, from January to the early part of September this year.

Manreal blames the stagnant water in open canals for the death.

The village has many open canals because of its problematic drainage system.

Late last month, the compound of Pooc Elementary School, including the classrooms, and its neighboring areas were flooded following an overnight of non-stop raining.

That part of the barangay has already been identified by the city planning and development office as flood-prone, and the absence of proper drainage system has worsened the situation.

Early this month however, the city council earmarked P500,000 from the city's P8.2 million calamity fund for water canal from the barangay down to the nearest outfall, which is the Mananga River. (FREEMAN)