P10 Bounty for every rat killed in Olongapo City

OLONGAPO CITY— Cash for rats, this is the theme of the city government in declaring the month of August as Leptospirosis Prevention Month.

Olongapo City Mayor Rolen Paulino said that the aim of the city is to have a strong awareness campaign against the dreaded disease that hit the city last year, infecting more than 600 people and killing several others.

It can be recalled that the leptospirosis outbreak occured after a massive flooding and one of the main suspects that spread the disease was rats urine carried by floodwaters.

“This campaign is not meant to be a source of livelihood for residents, it is really an awareness campaign to let people know that rats equals to leptospirosis,” Paulino said.

He added that the target for this year is zero (0) leptospirosis case.

Dr.Rodrick Bustamante, head of the Olongapo City Health Office said that the program would run for the whole month of August.

“We will be giving out P10 per big rat and P5 for small ones,” Bustamante added.

He said residents could bring the dead rats at the city health office and then a health officer would bring the collected rats in an isolated place for proper disposal.

“Ayaw na naming maulet yung nagyare last year, and frankly speaking we have already sent out our health workers before the rainy season to give out medicines against common disease and leptospirosis,” Bustamante added.