Officials of Barangay Matandang Balara, an exclusive and gated subdivision in Quezon City, plan to deploy again an army of frogs to catch and swallow dengue-carrying mosquitoes following a dengue outbreak declaration in the city.
Mayor Joy Belmonte declared a dengue outbreak on Saturday, Feb. 15.
“Sa tingin namin, dahil nung ginawa namin yun ay nakita namin talagang nag decrease yung kaso ng dengue (Because when we did that, we actually saw a decrease in dengue cases),” Barangay Chairman Allan Franza said in an interview.
“Bagamat naniniwala pa rin tayo na malaki pa rin naman ang maitutulong nung mga palaka, lalung lalo na dun sa mga bakanteng lote na hindi pwede pasukin ng Barangay para linisin (Although we still believe that the frogs can still help a lot, especially in vacant lots that the barangay cannot enter to clean)," he added.
In 2018 and 2019, the barangay released frogs after recording two deaths and over 200 dengue cases.
However, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Health (DOH) frowned upon this method in reducing dengue cases citing the lack of study to prove that it is an effective solution.
Franza said they will continue to conduct clean-up drives and information dissemination.
“Ang susundin muna natin yang 5S strategy ng DOH (We will follow the 5S strategy of DOH),” he said.
“Yung pagpapakawala siguro ng palaka ay last option na lang po natin yun kung hindi po natin masugpo (the release of frogs will be our last option if we cannot stop the spread of dengue),” he added.
Barangay Matandang Balara has recorded 45 dengue cases.