'H1N1 cases in House won't stop SONA'
by Carmela Fonbuena, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 06/25/2009 7:24 PM
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MANILA - House Speaker Prospero Nograles dismissed speculations that President Arroyo’s July 27 State of the Nation Address (SONA) may be postponed due to the influenza A(H1N1) cases in the House of Representatives.
“I'm not personally so keen about postponement of the SONA. The situation in the House is expected to stabilize and be contained by next week, and the event [SONA] is still July 27, which is more than enough time to address the issue of the H1N1,” Nograles said in a statement.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on Tuesday said Malacañang is open to postponing the SONA if the situation in the House of Representatives “becomes serious.”
The House of Representatives, located in Quezon City, has been shut since Tuesday as a precautionary measure following the death of one employee due to complications caused by the influenza A(H1N1) virus. The 49-year-old employee is the country's first reported A(H1N1)-related death.
As of Wednesday, two more employees tested positive for the virus, and a few more are being tested. Operations in the House of Representatives are scheduled to resume on Monday, June 29.
The rising A(H1N1) cases in Metro Manila prompted the Department of Health to declare a “low-level” H1N1 outbreak.
Call to probe DOH action
Meanwhile, House committee on health chairman, South Cotabato Rep. Arthur Pinggoy, said he will recommend to Nograles that they hold a congressional inquiry into the Department of Health’s (DOH) response to the A(H1N1) cases in the lower House.
The 49-year-old House employee died June 19. The DOH announced the H1N1-related death on June 22, the same day the lower House found out about it.
“Secretary Francisco Duque's explanation that the DOH kept it [death] secret from us because it was part of DOH protocol and to prevent panic is very ironic,” said Pinggoy, a physician.
“On the contrary, this is against protocol because the DOH could have reported this to the leadership, which could have exercised discreet health procedures. The DOH gravely endangered the health of our employees by keeping us in the dark. I think that the House should conduct an inquiry,” Pinggoy added.
Pinggyo said an early coordination with the House leadership would have enabled them to conduct preemptive measures to avert a contagion. He said they could have immediately mobilized his committee and the House medical services to conduct contact tracing and other measures that would ensure the immediate containment of the viral disease.
“We have our own medical personnel who are competent to do this in close coordination with the DOH. It was very irresponsible for the DOH to only report this to us after one of our employees died because of A(H1N1),” Pinggoy said.
Duque earlier explained to reporters that the DOH experience shows that the contacts of confirmed cases refuse disclosures. They prefer to hide and avoid interviews.
Dignitaries at risk?
Meanwhile, former National Security Adviser Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez said the House of Representatives is unlike schools and universities, which is why the regular DOH protocol on disclosures should not apply to them.
“The House of Representatives is an institution with national security implications, and I wonder why the DOH did not realize that,” he said.
He said the DOH response put at risk Malacañang officials, foreign diplomats, and other dignitaries who regularly visit the House of Representatives.
“We have at least 4,000 employees who are potential victims of this virus. The House of Representatives is also host to government dignitaries and officials of foreign governments who come to us almost every day. This action of the DOH also endangered the health of the members of the media and resource persons who attend our hearings,” Golez said.
“We also have employees who are in constant liaison with other government agencies including the Office of the President,” he added.
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