NorCot intensifies drive vs. dengue

 COTABATO CITY – North Cotabato health officials are on the lookout for the early detection of dengue amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis as the province has logged more than 400 cases since January.

This came as North Cotabato Governor Nancy A. Catamco directed provincial health providers to closely monitor areas in the province with a high incidence of dengue.

“Fighting Covid-19 is equally as important as fighting dengue,” Catamco said in a directive issued on Tuesday, June 16.

Responding to Catamco’s marching orders, the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) has called for active community support in its intensified drive against dengue following the onset of the rainy season.

DAS renovates buildings as isolation center

The municipal government of Datu Saudi Ampatuan (DSA) turns an old building into a Covid-19 isolation center. (TRISHA GAIL SALIC ARAGON, MINDANAO EXPOSE')  click above to read more.....

DATU SAUDI AMPATUAN (DSA), Maguindanao--- This locality renovated two old building to serve as isolation center of Covid-19 patients.

Municipal Administrator Mosib Uy Tan said one facility is an old ARMM Helps building and the other is a former barangay hall of a previous administration,

“Located at Barangay Kabingi, we are now utilizing these buildings for the Covid-19 Locally Stranded Individuals (LSI’s) and Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs). The isolation prevention center has14-bed capacity. Its location is 1.4 kilometer away from the national highway,” Tan said.

Tan said the local government is scheduled to inaugurate the facilities hopefully by the end of the month.

“We are now completing the needed medical equipment for the safety and the LSI’s comfortability while they isolate themselves for 14 days. In addition, we are also preparing to train our manpower to manage and secure the LSI’s inside the isolation center,” Tan said.

Further, Tan is optimistic that they will meet the quality standard of an isolation facility required by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Health (DOH) national. (ANNE B. ACOSTA)

Alert up vs. dengue in SoCot

GENERAL SANTOS CITY --- Dengue cases in South Cotabato province have dropped significantly in the past several months but health workers advised residents to remain alert due to the onset of the rainy season.

Jose Barroquillo Jr., the mosquito-borne diseases coordinator of the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), said Wednesday, June 17 they have monitored an increase in the mosquito population in local communities these past weeks that could eventually trigger a surge in cases of the deadly disease. 

Such a trend was seen in the province in the previous years, especially in the outbreak during the rainy season last year.

From January 1 to June 12, the IPHO already recorded a total of 589 dengue cases and three related deaths within the province’s 10 towns and lone city.

Maguindanao village official, son slain in NoCot gun attack

COTABATO CITY --- A Maguindanao village official and his son were killedwhile another was wounded in an ambush Wednesday, June 17 in the North Cotabato town of Midsayap.

Lt. Col, John Miridel Calinga, Midsayap municipal police chief, said police and elements of the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion have launched a manhunt to get the perpetrators of the incident. 

Calinga identified the victims as Paitin Lando, 53, a village official of Datu Piang, Maguindanao, and his 18-year-old son, Noron Mulod. They both instantly died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Injured was Sued Kalambo, 21, driver of the motorbike hired by Lando and his son.

Responding police found empty shells from M-16 and M-14 assault rifles at the crime scene in Barangay Lower Glad in Midsayap.

“The attack could be related to a ‘rido’ involving the village official’s family and that of the ambushers,” Calinga said.

Police said the victims were heading to Midsayap at about 5 p.m. when flagged down and strafed by gunmen beside the highway in Barangay Lower Glad.

Citing witnesses, police said the gunmen fled toward Datu Piang, Maguindanao following the incident. (EDWIN FERNANDEZ, PNA, MINDANAO EXPOSE')