House spends P2-M to fight H1N1
by Carmela Fonbuena, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 06/29/2009 5:08 PM
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MANILA - After a six-day shutdown due to influenza A (H1N1) infections, the House of Representatives resumed operations on Monday to continue its preparations for President Arroyo's State of the Nation (SONA) Address on July 27.
"We are in full and close coordination with all departments, agencies and offices concerned including the Senate and Malacañang," said House Speaker Prospero Nograles.
He earlier rejected postponing the SONA as a result of the death of one House employee who got infected by the H1N1 virus.
Nograles is on self-quarantine following his trip to Australia.
The country's first and only fatality related to the H1N1 was a 49-year-old House employee with pre-existing health problems.
Three more employees who also tested positive have already recovered. The House medical department is awaiting swab test results of ten more suspected cases.
No congressman has been infected by the H1N1 virus. "Sa awa ng Diyos. They [congressmen] are not coming in. Risk of exposure is least," said House secretary-general Marilyn Yap.
The House has been in recess since June 5. The House employee died on June 22.
"We are not in a tense situation right now," Yap told reporters on Monday.
She said the House of Representatives has been sanitized. Thermal scanners have been in place since Monday. Employees and visitors who register temperatures higher than the normal 37 degrees Celsius are sent home.
P2 M to fight H1N1
The House has spent around P2 million to protect its 5,000 employees and its visitors--mostly constituents and representatives of various government and international offices--from the influenza A (H1N1) virus.
Yap said they secured P1.5 million worth of anti-flu vaccines even before the House employees tested positive for the virus. These anti-flu vaccines are not for the H1N1 virus but for other flu strains. They pre-ordered 5,000 flu vaccines at P300 each. The House has been supplied with 2,000 vaccines with the rest still to be delivered.
Due to high demand and low supply, the cost of the vaccines has shot up to nearly P1,000 each.
The House has also bought 18 thermal scanners, each worth P20,000. Yap said they will have to buy more for the SONA.
Stricter measures for SONA
Yap said the anti-SONA protests and the H1N1 cases in the House will not lead to the postponement of the SONA.
"We have the luck of having prepared earlier than last year. We started preparations in February," she said.
But Yap said stricter measures will be adopted not only to protect its visitors from the virus but also from protests.
Yap said they cannot belittle the planned protests against Charter change. Militant groups have said they will encircle the Batasan Complex where the House of Representatives is located.
To protect vistors from H1N1, Yap said they will conduct weekly sanitizing of the Batasan Complex, and more thermal scanners will be put in place.
Scanning thrice for non-VIPs
For the SONA, one gate will be devoted to dignitaries and politicians, who will also be subjected to thermal scanning. Yap said anyone who will register a high temperature will be sent home, regardless of his position in government.
Another gate will be devoted to visitors, who will be scanned several times--at the gate, at the lobby entrance, and at the gallery entrance.
Yap said they are not inclined to postpone SONA even if more House employees test positive for H1N1.
"We will enforce a lockdown," she said. Only the office where the infected employee works will be shutdown. Other offices will continue operations.
Safe from protests
To prevent protesters from disrupting the SONA, Yap said security measures and traffic rerouting will be in place as in previous years.
Yap said she doesn't think it's going to be a big security concern. "There have been minimal clashes in the previous years," she said.
Nevertheless, she said, "we still have to take that [protests] seriously. They can encircle the complex. We are trying to prepare for that kind of eventuality," she added.
Yap said she will also coordinate with militant congressmen who are involved in the protests. "We can come up with a modus vivendi," she said.
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