Bantayan dengue cases not in DOH records?

CEBU, Philippines – A member of the Cebu Provincial Board who comes from Bantayan Island has expressed fear that dengue cases in their place may not have been recorded by health officials of the province or of the region.

PB member Jose Ribomapil Holganza Jr., who sits as ex-officio member of the board being the president of the Liga ng mga Barangay, neither confirmed nor denied any dengue cases in Bantayan Island , which is composed of the towns of Bantayan, Sta. Fe and Madridejos.

Holganza told The FREEMAN that some residents in the island prefer to bring their patients to a hospital in Sagay City, Negros Occidental for reason of shorter travel time than bringing them to Cebu City .

From Bantayan Island , Sagay City can be reached by boat in two hours while it takes four to five hours for one to travel from the island to Cebu City . It is also very costly to transport patients to Cebu City since they have to pay at least P1,500 to P2,000 for fuel of the ambulance.

"Ang kontra namo didto kung hunas ra gyud kay lapad kaayo ang hunasan, di makadunggo ang pumpboat," he said.

Holganza said that Bantayan Mayor Ian Christopher Escario can also refer patients in a hospital in Sagay City since he served there as city councilor for five years before he was elected mayor.

There is no formal agreement between the officials of Bantayan and Sagay City but Holganza believed it is interpersonal since Escario is from Sagay City .

There was a report before that Bantayan was enlisted as one of the towns in Cebu province having dengue cases but Holganza said it may be Daanbantayan and not Bantayan.

Report coming from the Provincial Health Office states that Minglanilla has the most number of dengue cases in Cebu Province with recorded 120 cases as of Sept. 15 this year.

Toledo City ranks second with 117 cases, followed by Talisay City with 102 cases.

The highest increase in Minglanilla was recorded last month when it had 53 cases.

The list also includes Danao City with 97 cases; Balamban with 88 cases; Liloan, 70 cases; Medellin , 66 cases; Bogo City , 59 cases; Aloguinsan and Argao both with 53 cases and Daanbantayan with 49 cases. (FREEMAN)