Angry GMA protests SARS rating for RP

An angry President Arroyo ordered government officials yesterday "to protest" the new classification given by the World Health Organization (WHO) which groups the Philippines with countries that have more serious problems with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

The Philippines, which has reported 10 SARS cases and two deaths, has been included among countries with "medium risk" of transmission of the virus.

A "medium-level" designation by the WHO means the virus has been passed on locally to at least three people from an original SARS carrier.

The new classification prompted Kuwait, Lebanon, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates to restrict the entry of Filipinos.

Last month, Libya imposed a ban on the entry of Filipino workers to avoid SARS transmission. Despite a diplomatic protest by the Philippines, the ban has not been lifted.

Japan has advised its nationals not to travel to the Philippines unless necessary.

Late Friday, Singapore, one of the worst-hit areas from the outbreak of the mysterious virus, removed the Philippines from a travel advisory after it had been placed on the list a day earlier.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the President has asked Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) officials to coordinate with Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit, who heads the SARS Crisis Management Committee, to work out a note verbale protesting the travel advisories and the WHO’s new classification of the SARS situation in the country.

Ople formally asked the WHO yesterday to clarify with the international community the Philippines’ inclusion in a list of countries with a "medium-level" SARS transmission.

In the note verbale handed to WHO representative Dr. Jean-Marc Olive, Ople said the government is concerned over the classification, which lumps the Philippines with other countries that have reported at least 13 times the number of local cases.

"It has resulted in the unwarranted and baseless issuance of travel warnings against the Philippines and restrictions on the entry of Filipinos and other travelers coming from the Philippines," the note said.

The new classification does not reflect the Philippines’ real situation, Ople said.

Olive, for his part, reiterated that the risk of infection in the Philippines is "negligible" and that it is unrealistic for any country to issue a ban on travel to or from the Philippines.

He said the new classification caused confusion in some countries, but added that SARS is still a new disease and WHO does not yet fully understand its means of transmission.

Olive said he is now discussing with WHO officials to determine the best way to describe the exact SARS situation in the country.

He also assured Ople that he will make sure the Philippines’ concerns are brought to the attention of the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, but could not promise that WHO will change its classification for the Philippines.

"(Olive) is going to bring it to their attention that this does not sound right. His is not the final decision," said DFA spokesman Victoriano Lecaros.

"Rather than dealing with the travel bans in piecemeal fashion, (Ople) took the tack of going to the WHO, whose categorization became the basis of those countries for imposing the ban," he said.

Lecaros added that "if (the WHO classification) is amended, the travel advisories can logically be expected to be revised."

Ople also summoned Singapore charge d’affaires Paul Koh over his country’s advisory which told citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to the Philippines because of SARS.

Even though Singapore withdrew its advisory, Lecaros said Ople still summoned Koh to remind him "that ASEAN has existing mechanisms for dealing with these things and that mechanism does not include issuing travel advisories against each other."

The Philippines and Singapore are both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Lecaros also said that earlier reports that Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates had banned the entry of Filipino workers because of SARS fears had turned out to be false.

He said he was still checking how many countries had issued travel advisories or bans on the Philippines.

Travel advisories issued by these countries are an "over-reaction" and "what is important is we don’t over-react" by issuing similar advisories against SARS-affected countries that have restricted the entry of Filipinos, Bunye said.

The President told The STAR that the country’s first SARS fatality, Adela Catalon, was a "low local transmission" SARS case. Her father Mauricio, who also died of SARS, is the "medium" or "second generation" SARS transmission case.

She said that people with whom Catalon had varying degrees of contact were immediately isolated and treated in hospitals, while her neighbors in Barangay Vacante in Alcala, Pangasinan were quarantined.

"We are protesting our (second-generation) WHO classification because our country’s SARS situation might be misunderstood… there is no community spread of SARS here," Mrs. Arroyo said.

The President said that the 10 SARS cases reported to WHO was even reduced to eight after two of the patients were found not to have the SARS virus.

"We’re down to eight (SARS cases) again. But we really have to be transparent about the SARS cases in our country to keep our people alert and vigilant," she said. — With Mayen Jaymalin, AFP