Influenza A(H1N1) community outbreak declared in Jaen

The Department of Health (DOH) has declared a community outbreak of Influenza A(H1N1) virus in Barangay Hilera in Jaen.

Health officials are going house to house to interview residents of Hilera and other adjacent barangays to stop the possible spread of the disease.

Nueva Ecija recorded its first case of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus last June 4 when an 11 year old Grade 6 pupil of Hilera Elementary School who had developed fever tested positive for the dreaded disease.

Forty other pupils were downed with fever, cold and cough forcing Ruperto Castro, school principal, to suspend classes on June 5 and 8.

On June 7, an initial batch of 15 pupils underwent throat swabbing to test for the flu virus and 10 tested positive. Nine of them are pupils of the school while one is a four year old child.

Forty-four more pupils with possible A(H1N1) symptoms asked to be tested.

Dr. Eric Tayag, chief of the National Epidemiology Center, said that the DOH had ordered Hilera Elementary School closed for the next 10 days after declaring a community level outbreak. This was after over 90 other people who had contact with the sick children also showed flu-like symptoms.
 

Video caps courtesy of ABS-CBN Channel 2's "TV Patrol".

Dr. Rio Magpantay, DOH regional director, said that the boy confirmed as the first A(H1N1) case took a vacation in Bulacan one week before the opening of classes. It could not yet be determined if he got infected by his contacts in Bulacan or from members of a medical mission called "Palanghay" that visited Barangay Hilera on May 31.

Mayor Santiago Austria said the sick pupils confirmed to him that they were in the medical mission. Some residents from adjoining barangays also attended.

Dr. Benjamin Lopez, provincial health officer, reported that none of the affected pupils had traveled abroad recently.

Magpantay said that 53 pupils of the school and four other barangay residents showed influenza like symptoms. He said that the 11 confirmed A(H1N1) patients were being treated in their homes and recovering well, adding that their symptoms were mild.

The regional health director said that the DOH was not inclined to declare a community level outbreak in Barangay Hilera as all the cases originated from one person, and the patients were mostly from a Grade 6 class.

When asked for the residents' reactions to the intervention of the DOH in the barangay, Magpantay said that there was no panic but some residents felt that people from other places tended to avoid interacting with them.

This was confirmed by Mayor Austria, saying "Pakiramdan nila parang nandidiri sa kanila."

He said that he had been staying in Barangay Hilera to reassure the residents there and to counter the feeling of stigma or fear. He even joined the DOH teams that went around the town.

The health department has set up a command post manned by physicians and nurses at Hilera Elementary School to look after the health concerns of residents. Two ambulances are on stand by.

Last June 12, the DOH expanded its surveillance to the neighboring barangays of Kalabasa, Pitak, Lambakin and Pakul. Some 30 health personnel and barangay health workers went on house-to-house visits to identify people with flu like symptoms.

As June 13, the DOH had documented 43 cases of influenza like illnesses in Lambakin and more than 20 others in Pakul. Most of them were children aged 11 to 12.

The number of people with influenza like illnesses in Lambakin and Pakul are slightly higher than those in Hilera which totaled 57 as of June 11.

Magpantay said the DOH would only do throat swab tests on residents of Lambakin and Pakul if their symptoms -- fever, coughing, diarrhea and vomiting -- turned from mild to worse.

"What we're doing now is early detection and treatment," he said.

Dr. Mario Ramirez, regional director of the Department of Education, said that the reopening of classes in Hilera Elementary School would depend on the advice from the DOH.

Gov. Aurelio Umali said that even before the outbreak in Jaen, the provincial and municipal governments had already prepared a support network for the health department's approach to contain the disease. He said that local government officials heeded the DOH's advise not to be too visible so as not to confuse the people. ###

Ecija police director warns against hiding crime incidents

Sr. Supt. Ricardo C. Marquez, provincial police director, warned the police chiefs of various towns and cities against deliberately hiding crime incidents in their areas such as murder and robbery.

He warned that those found doing this would face administrative sanctions, including being charged with neglect of duty.

Marquez told a command conference last June 5 that he had received reports that high profile and petty crimes reported to the police were not properly logged or even omitted in police journals to escape the attention of the public and the media.

He said that the malpractice tended to undermine the efforts of police officials to get a true and clear picture of the peace and order situation in any given locality, giving them a false sense of security. As a result, he said that the police could not present a true and accurate comparison of past and present crime statistics.

Marquez said that he would expect a more comprehensive and improved police reporting by next year.

He also directed his field officers to post their contact numbers and hotlines in populated areas like transportation terminals, shopping malls, markets, schools, barangay halls and street corners and major roads. ###
 
 

Board member's security aide killed

A personal security detail of Board Member Romanito Juatco was ambushed and killed last June 5 in Barangay Castellano, San Leonardo.

Chief Insp. Carlito Lopez identified the victim as Rogelio Pimentel Pascual, 35, of Barangay San Roque, San Leonardo.

Pascual was on his way home from Gapan City on board his motorcycle when he was trailed by motorcycle riding gunmen who fired at him five times.

PO3 Rommel Bautista, case investigator, said the suspects fled towards Barangay Nieves. ###
 
 

Umali school bags confiscated, burned

Some 500 schoolbags donated by the provincial government to pupils in Quezon town were allegedly confiscated and burned by unidentified persons.

The bags were part of some 254,000 bags being distributed to barangays in the province every year under the education assistance program of the provincial government and 3rd Dist. Rep. Cherry Umali.

This was learned from an e-mail sent to local media persons last June 5 by Anna Lampa, communications officer of Tigereye Media, Inc., a public relations firm working for Gov. Aurelio M. Umali.

Lampa said, “Text at tawag po ang natanggap mula sa residente ng Quezon town kaugnay ng sapilitang pagkuha at pagsunog ng mga nasabing school bags. Humihingi po kasi sila ng panibagong bags dahil sa kinuha nga daw po, sa ngayon wala silang magamit.  Dagdag pa, tatlong araw mula Lunes, ay naglibot na ang mga kapitan ng barangay at hinanap ang mga nasabing bags upang bawiin.”

Sr. Supt. Ricardo C. Marquez, Nueva Ecija provincial police office director, said he had not received any report about the incident but would look into it. ###
 
 

200 Army recruits undergo training

A total of 200 recruits are undergoing the Candidate Soldier Course at the Division Training Unit of the 7th Infantry Division led by Maj. Gen. Ralph Villanueva in Fort Magsaysay, Palayan City.

The course opened last June 2 with Col. Leonido Bongcawil, 7th ID chief of staff, as guest of honor and speaker.

The new recruits were the first group turned over by the Philippine Army Headquarters to the 7th ID for six months of training to beef up the strength of Army units in Central Luzon.

The 200 were culled from more than a thousand applicants. ###
 
 

STL employee arrested for sex video

An employee of a small town lottery (STL) firm in Gapan City was arrested for threatening to circulate a sex video of himself and his girl friend if the latter refused to see him.

In  a report by Supt. Diosdado Iniego, Gapan City OIC police chief, the suspect was identified as Vincent Calloza Cyco, 27, of Barangay Santo Tomas, Lubao and temporarily living in Barangay San Lorenzo, Gapan City.

He was charged by his girlfriend, also of Barangay San Lorenzo, with threatening to upload to the Internet and pass on to other cell phones a video showing the two of them having sex, after she refused to see him.

In an entrapment operation by PO2 Bobby Oamil and PO1 Christopher Tolentino, Cyco was arrested and yielded a Nokia 99 cell phone with the sex video.

He was charged with violation of the law on violence against women and children. ###
 
 

2 killed, 1 hurt in Carranglan truck mishap

Two persons died and another was seriously hurt when the truck they were riding lost its brakes and fell into a deep ditch in Sitio Nanlagarian, Barangay Puncan, Carranglan at dawn last June 11.

The fatalities were identified as Arcin Ancheta Jacobe, 38, and Guillian Glorecia Bacor, 26, both truck helpers and residents of Barangay Santo Rosario, Santo Domingo.

Injured was Peter Jacobe Espiritu, 49, who was rushed to a hospital in San Jose City.

Investigation showed that the accident happened at about 3:00 AM while the truck was going downhill when the driver, Ferdinand Gamboa Quibuyen, 26, of Barangay Santo Rosario, Santo Domingo, lost control of the steering wheel after the vehicle's brakes failed. ###