Alcala fiesta not as festive

ALCALA, Pangasinan — Except for this town where the country’s first two confirmed SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) victims came from, Pangasinenses are now back to their normal lives, thanks to a massive information drive by the media and the health department.

Dr. Jesus Canto, director of the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City, believes that the May 2 visit here of President Arroyo, along with Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit and World Health Organization (WHO) representative Dr. Jean Marc Olive and other government officials, played a big role in "liberating" Pangasinenses from the SARS stigma.

But Alcala, which is celebrating its fiesta until Tuesday, still reels from such a stigma.

Sidewalk vendors used to line up both sides of the road during the peryahan (carnival) and barangay folk trooped to nightly shows in the town plaza.

But not this time, bewailed Dr. Florence Baldomero, an Alcala resident.

Baldomero is a third cousin of Adela Catalon, a nursing assistant in Toronto, Canada who returned home last May 5 unaware that she was carrying the SARS virus.

Adela died on May 14 and several days later, her 73-year-old cancer-stricken father, Mauricio, whom she had infected, passed away.

Their deaths prompted health authorities to place their community — Barangay Vacante — under quarantine for 14 days. The residents survived the isolation with nobody showing SARS symptoms.

The entire episode, however, has continued to dampen the mood in this town.

According to Baldomero, not even half of the usual spectators from adjoining areas who used to watch the coronation night of Mrs. Alcala, came this time.

During the pre-SARS days, police had to reroute buses and other vehicles because of heavy traffic caused by the influx of visitors during the town’s fiesta celebration.

"We could not really feel the fiesta ambience," Baldomero quipped.

But she said this could not be entirely blamed on SARS. Possibly, she said the people have no money to spend because their corn and tobacco produce remains unsold.

The other day, Baldomero, a dentist, said Catalon’s relatives went to her clinic and one of her patients wanted to leave upon learning about their presence.

Meanwhile, Mauricio’s ashes will be buried at end of the month. Baldomero said the Catalons have overcome their pain and have accepted their fate.

Although the anxiety and paranoia among Pangasinenses have died down, Canto said the government’s continuing campaign to educate the public about SARS has helped defuse the anxiety and paranoia which used to ail Pangasinenses.

But Canto said Filipinos still have to be vigilant despite the fact that the WHO has removed the Philippines from the list of countries afflicted with SARS.

Quoting Dayrit, Canto said, "We cannot afford to commit even a margin of error."

In another development, patients are now coming back to the Villasis Polymedic Hospital and Trauma Center in Villasis town where Adela Catalon was initially admitted, also thanks to the government’s information campaign.

Dr. Francisco Olivar, director and part-owner of the hospital, recently complained that the facility was being shunned as a consequence of Catalon’s confinement there.

Olivar said the recent visit of Canto, Speaker Jose de Venecia and Dr. Eduardo Janairo, regional director of the Department of Health, to the hospital helped allay the fears of the public.

From a zero admission, the hospital, he said, has been getting two to seven patients a day since two weeks ago.