NPOC: From terrorism to SARS

The campaign against possible outbreaks of atypical pneumonia will be fought at the grassroots level.

Secretary Jose Lina Jr. of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said his agency will mobilize the National Peace and Order Council (NPOC) to monitor and combat possible outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in certain parts of the country.

The DILG leads the NPOC, an inter-agency body tasked with formulating national action plans against any threat to internal security.

The NPOC will temporarily shift its focus from dealing with the terrorist threat to the SARS threat.

A SARS outbreak will affect the security of areas where it occurs, Lina said, and the NPOC will play a vital role in fighting these outbreaks.

"The NPOC will convene and discuss precautionary measures to prevent (any) possible outbreak of SARS in the country," he said in a telephone interview.

The NPOC will complement the efforts of SARS crisis manager and Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit.

The NPOC, Lina said, will handle security arrangements for and the information campaign on SARS.

Until the NPOC is convened, the DILG will mobilize barangay tanods to coordinate with local health officials and take the SARS information drive to the grassroots level.

Besides their regular law enforcement duties, the tanods will also undergo basic health and quarantine training and be taught to identify possible SARS victims in their barangays.

In areas where SARS outbreaks are possible, barangay peace and order councils will coordinate with health officials in isolating possible SARS victims and work to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to other localities.

The tanods will be the most effective monitoring agents of the government. "These are all precautionary measures," Lina said. "We just want to be prepared for any eventuality."

‘No lying at NAIA’

Meanwhile, liars, like spitters, have no place in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Edgardo Manda wants to sanction passengers who lie about their health condition.

He urged Dayrit to issue a department order penalizing passengers arriving in the country’s airport who try to hide symptoms of possible SARS infection or enter false data on the health checklists they must complete upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

"I am strongly looking at the possibility of penalizing passengers entering false data about their health on the checklist," Manda said in a statement. "That’s why I am seeking the help of the health department to come up with stricter guidelines."

He said passengers who lie to health officers must face more than just penalties — they should be sued for falsifying public documents.

Manda warned passengers not to take the health checklist for granted. He said it is an "official record duly recognized by government agencies and medical practitioners in corroborating (that) arriving passengers from SARS-infected countries do not carry the virus."

He said the airport’s medical team and Department of Health (DOH) personnel use highly sophisticated equipment to check if a person may have SARS.

British infectious diseases expert Dr. John Simon visited the country earlier this week and inspected the NAIA. Simon said he was impressed with the health safety measures adopted by MIAA, including MIAA’s curtailing the "freedom of spit" around the airport’s periphery.

Simon said that SARS prevention should be legislated. "I encourage the Philippine government to sanction those who make false declarations and pass laws (for SARS prevention)."

Manda said the existing Quarantine Law should be given more teeth because "at this point, legislation would be a very tedious process."

He has made several consultations with legal experts to study other laws that may have to be enacted.

The Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) and policies governing quarantine regulations were created during the Philippine Commonwealth period.

Manda vowed to explore innovative ways of ensuring the health safety of the public, as well as airport and immigration personnel who come into direct and close contact with passengers on a daily basis.

He asked Simon to share information on SARS and its prevention and "Dr. Simon graciously granted my request. I am very thankful to him."

Simon said the coronavirus that causes SARS is not airborne and is spread by close contact with an infected person or droplet transmission through sneezing and coughing.

The virus can survive for up to three hours outside its host — especially on currency bills, he said.