Moreno hits back at bashers

CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno said he will “take full responsibility” for declaring a community quarantine over the city instead of an enhanced community quarantine or lockdown as demanded by some detractors, whom he castigated for undermining the efforts of both health frontliners and City Hall in stopping the coronavirus pandemic.

“These bashers and detractors are hiding behind aliases and making false, irresponsible and even criminal (claims in social media). I feel sorry for the health frontliners who sacrifice and put their lives at risk while there are a few who continually undermine their efforts and City Hall’s efforts (in stopping Covid-19). Reserve the demolition jobs during the elections, now is not the time to talk politics,” Moreno said during this morning’s press briefing at the mayor’s conference room.

Earlier Dr. Ian Gonzales, head of the Infectious Diseases Cluster of the Department of Health regional office (DOH-10), called on the city’s doctors and health professionals to report to their office any notifiable diseases they have in their hospitals or clinics under Republic Act 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Disease Act that mandates hospitals and doctors to report notifiable diseases immediately to the DOH.

Dr. Gonzales issued this reminder amid a Facebook post being circulated by the mayor’s bashers that claimed there were a lot of Persons Under Investigation (PUIs) that were admitted to private hospitals that allegedly died in the past two weeks.

Dr. Jose Chan, chief of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) previously reiterated that they are handling all cases of PUIs with moderate to severe symptoms including cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI).

“The public, especially at this time, is looking up to us medical professionals for guidance and it is up to us to stick to the facts and evidence. The DOH, NMMC, and City Health Office data are open for public scrutiny so long as patient privacy is protected,” Dr. Gonzales said.

Due to the ongoing observance of Holy Week, Dr. Gonzales cited the sayings of St. Ignatius that called for contemplative thinking.

“In making our social media posts do we think that what we post is factual or misleading to the public. Don’t let the virus divide us, let us unite and fight the virus together,” he said.

During the same press briefing, acting City Health Officer Dr. Lorraine Nery also said ‘now is not the time’ to circulate social media posts declaring Cagayan de Oro City as Covid-19 free even at the barangay level.

Instead, Dr. Nery said the public should wait for official confirmation of reports and data from the DOH.

Moreno, who got wind of the Facebook post, described it as a ‘smoking gun’ against the person who made that post since it indicated that he didn’t report the cases to the DOH in violation of RA 1132.

City epidemiologist Dr. Joselito Retuya said they only issued one cremation permit last month for a lone probable PUI death that occurred at a private hospital.

Dr. Retuya said the permit is in keeping with their guidelines that all probable PUI deaths be treated as Covid-19 deaths and will be cremated within 12 to 24 hours. He said they reported this lone probable PUI death to the regional DOH-10 office.

“I would strongly recommend (for legal action on that post). We know him,” Moreno said.

Moreno said the detractors and bashers were resorting to ‘childish conspiracy allegations’ after the government’s Inter-Agency Task Force For Emerging Infectious Diseases declared that local governments in the Visayas and Mindanao can maintain general community quarantine based on the DOH recommendation which vindicated his position and soundly refuted the demands of his bashers for a citywide lockdown.  

“They are falsely claiming that (regional DOH-10 director) Dr. Adriano Suba-an and myself are involved in a conspiracy which is very childish. If they want a lockdown they should lock themselves in their homes. Pataka lang sila in their social media posts,” Moreno said.

“The public should understand that we are not over the hump yet. We cannot say that the Covid-19 threat is behind us. We have already visited and validated 7,384 houses as of April 8. We are monitoring 29 arrivals of Cagayan de Oro City residents-27 from Tacurong, one from Manila and three from Gingoog City. These bashers are manipulating and fabricating reports while our evidence is facts and evidence-based, our perspective is conservative and our monitoring, surveillance and handling of cases is proactive,” he said. (Stephen Capillas of CIO)