No to Another Anti-Dengue Vaxx

By Herbert Vego

THIS corner agrees with Dr. Anthony Leachon, a known health reform advocate, who recently cautioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) against any hasty move to approve a new vaccine against dengue because “it will not solve the gargantuan problem.”

Lechon was reacting to Sen. Nancy Binay’s call for the approval of TAK003, a new -generation anti-dengue vaccine from Japan.

He must have learned his lesson from the Dengvaxia vaccine, for which the government wasted P3.5 billion pesos. Mass vaccination with this French drug in 2016 resulted in alleged deaths of nearly 200 school children.

Leachon blamed “inadequate funding for laboratory testing for dengue.”

According to the Department of Health (DOH) more than 43,000 cases of dengue have been recorded from January to Feb. 15 this year, which is 56 percent alarmingly higher than the 27,995 cases logged in the same period in 2024.

Why doesn’t the FDA lend an ear to Filipino entrepreneurs and herbal practitioners who have submitted extracts of papaya and tawatawa leaves for approval against dengue?

It must have cost Pascual Laboratories a fortune to have its anti-cough lagundi syrup approved.

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MORE POWER UNVEILS SEVEN MARKERS AFTER FIVE YEARS

HAVING completed five full years of service as exclusive power-distribution utility in Iloilo City, MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) celebrated that milestone by unveiling seven commemorative markers symbolizing modernization, heritage preservation, and sustainability. These markers are at:

1) Megaworld Substation (30/36 MVA), ensuring a stable and reliable power supply for Iloilo’s growth;

2) Molo Plaza & St. Anne Parish Church, enhancing lighting to showcase heritage and cultural beauty;

3) Calle Real Underground Cabling, preserving Iloilo’s historic streetscape while modernizing power infrastructure;

4) Sunburst Park Christmas Tree, spreading holiday cheer with festive lighting;

5) Esplanade 1 Fingerling Release, supporting environmental sustainability with 1,000 fingerlings in the Iloilo River;

6) MORE Power Control Center (SCADA System), boosting efficiency and reliability with advanced technology; and

7) San Jose Parish Placer Lighting, honoring history through enhanced illumination.

Kudos to MORE Power President/CEO Roel Z. Castro for fulfilling his promise to modernize power distribution within five years.

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SERVICE BEYOND POLITICS

DO you know that there’s a new leader in the province of Antique who does not have to join politics in the name of public service?

I remember that in June 2024, Lord Leomer Pomperada, was honored in Manila  by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas as one of the year’s recipients of the Presidential Award for Outstanding Filipino Individuals Overseas.

Pomperada, who used to be president for seven years of the New York-based World Youth Alliance (YWA), is now one of its elders in his capacity , as head of its Human Dignity Education Program (HDEP).

HDEP is currently involved in teaching children transformational changes on self-worth, in five pilot schools (kindergarten to grade 12) in the municipalities of San Jose de Buenavista, Sibalom, Sebaste and Libertad.

No less than Anna Halpine, the American founder of the World Youth Alliance (WYA), came to assist Pomperada in crafting the Human Dignity curriculum of the HDEP.

The program enjoys financial support from the Antique provincial government, which has allocated P5 million.