Salceda hopes Senate passes CDC bill: El Niño poses risk to people’s health

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda hopes the Senate would approve on third reading a bill that would create the country’s Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) when session resumes, as the El Niño season has known links to diseases.

In a statement, Salceda explained that there have been studies indicating that an El Niño season results in a spike in tropical diseases because weather and temperatures become more conducive for ailments to thrive.

Last week, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) announced that it has upgraded their El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) monitoring to an El Niño watch, which means the probability of El Niño being declared between July to September is at 55 percent.

READ: Pagasa issues El Niño Watch; urges public to prepare for warm, dry season 

“Tropical diseases can be particularly problematic. Global studies indicate a spike of between 2.5% to 28% in cases during El Nino activities. El Nino is a hotbed for epidemics – climate is warmer than usual, and people have less water available,” Salceda said on Monday.

“So, we should be working on adaptations such as mandating LGUs to clean up, hospitals to probabilistically allocate resources among probably tropical diseases, and the DOH to do the coordination work and provide close guidance,” he added “We can anticipate what will happen more or less, because the models teach us when, how long, and how bad it can be.”

But Salceda said that having an agency like the CDC which would focus on such health issues would be a big boost to the government’s efforts.

“But the presence of a full-time, dedicated staff for disease control and prevention would help ensure that this doesn’t get buried in bureaucratic gobbledygook,” he noted

“The CDC would definitely add institutional muscle to our preparations, especially since El Nino could persist until 2024,” he added.

The House of Representatives has passed House Bill No. 6522, which creates the Philippine version of the CDC last December 12, 2022.  In the Senate however, the bill has languished.

READ: House bill creating Center for Disease Prevention and Control refiled 

READ: House panel OKs bills creating Center for Disease Prevention and Control 

This was despite Salceda’s previous revelation that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has already certified the bill as urgent — meaning the chamber can actually pass it on the second reading and third reading on the same day, bypassing requirements that bills passed on second reading would need at least three session days before being brought up for third reading.

“Now that the Senate version has already been certified as urgent, I am hopeful that we will have a bill ready for President Marcos’s signature before he makes his second State of the Nation Address,” Salceda said.

“Both the emerging Senate and the approved House versions are focused on ‘Emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases’ although the House version is more explicit about measures for rapid detection of such diseases, instead of a lack of institutional focus by covering all diseases,” he added.

The CDC has been deemed as something that would have helped the country cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.  In its absence, the main policy maker during the health crisis was the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) — which was criticized as the Philippines had one of the longest lockdowns in the world.

READ: NCR still under Alert Level 1; Some provinces remain under Alert Level 2 — IATF 

JPV