Recto wants budget to make schools ‘dengue-compliant’

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Ralph Recto wants the budget for schools to be “dengue-compliant” under the 2016 national budget.

To accomplish this will require the installation of window and door screens in public school classrooms to shield students from dengue mosquitoes.  He said the proposal also addresses the concerns on malaria, which affected 7,720 in 2013, one-sixth the 46,342 cases reported in 2005.

“Not only is the screen needed in  dengue-prone areas, but also in places where malaria is endemic. Children may have mosquito nets at night but if they are exposed to mosquitos during the day the effort is useless,” Recto said.

Though the government is winning the fight against malaria, 26 provinces remain affected by the malaria parasite.

By making screens a mandatory feature of new classrooms, “then we will be involving one more agency in the anti-dengue fight, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), so this becomes a tripartite campaign,” he said.

With P 77.2-billion allocated next year for the building of new classrooms and the repair of existing ones, Recto said he will introduce an amendment in the provisions governing the use of school building funds in the 2016 national budget.

The budget also covers technical-vocational (tech-voc) laboratories.

Of this amount, P61.8 billion will be for the construction of 43,000 classrooms; P4 billion for the repair of 20,000 classrooms; and almost P11.4 billion for 4,563 new tech-voc labs, Recto said.

“In the case of the repair of 20,000 classrooms, there might be no cost adjustment needed because the installation of screens could be part of the renovation work,” Recto said.

As to the 43,000 classrooms to be built, Recto said he will ask the DPWH if the price tag of each allows it to absorb the cost of the screens, or what pre-building expenses, like soil tests, can be reduced to accommodate the change order.

“Or we can just provide the screen from additional sources post-construction and let it be installed by school stakeholders, bayanihan style,” Recto said.

 “In budgeting, as in health, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” he said. The idea is to make the screen a regular feature of the design.

“This is needed for two reasons:  First is that dengue outbreaks are no longer seasonal, but year-round. Second, almost one in four Filipinos congregate in public schools daily,” the senator said.

 Public school enrolment is estimated to be at least 23.72 million, taught and assisted by DepEd’s 628,000 teachers and non-teaching personnel, in 46,407 elementary and high schools.

Dengue, which is spread through the bite of an Aedes mosquito, often affects  school-aged children. The number of cases reported to the DOH from January to Sept. 19 had reached almost 93,000.

Health Secretary Janette Garin said chemically-treated screens will not only kill mosquitoes, but cockroaches and other insects, too.