Dengue desperation

"Piso para sa lamok." "Ibalik ang Kodak." After the Quezon City government declared a dengue outbreak alert, a barangay in Mandaluyong City, Barangay Addition Hills, launched their own anti-dengue campaign offering one peso for every mosquito – dead or alive!

- CITO BELTRAN

Not to be outdone, another locality, Barangay Matandang Balara in Quezon City, renewed their "tried & tested" anti-dengue campaign by releasing 500 frogs in various creeks and esteros around the barangay.

Call it what you will, but the desperation for solutions is evident among LGUs, and they are effective in terms of bringing attention to our nationwide problem with dengue.

The declaration of a dengue outbreak in Quezon City was just a matter of when and where. It could have happened in Baguio City, Cebu City, or Iloilo City because the perfect storm was already brewing since 2024.

The problem was the Department of Health, which chose not to press the button because the leadership was concerned about reputation management. Instead of declaring an outbreak like experts suggested, they downplayed the threat, believing cases will go down by the last quarter and Christmas.

But by November 2024, there were already 831 dead from dengue, 900-plus by Dec. 31 and approximately 400,000 recorded cases, costing the PhilHealth anywhere between P2 billion to P4 billion for dengue treatments in 2024.

With the New Year 2025, the bureaucrats thought they could start fresh at zero casualties and lower cases. But the weather had not significantly changed from November to February; the environment and populations remained in place, and the mosquitoes simply kept biting and infecting people.