March 29, 2024

Baguio City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo swore by the integrity of their data on Covid-19 cases that they are reporting to the public daily.
This after the city government and the Department of Health reported contrasting data last Jan. 27 with 18 and 121 cases, respectively, causing confusion and suspicion among the public.
“We maintain that our data are accurate since these all come from the ground and are subjected to validations. We have always maintained transparency in our reporting of cases as emphasized by our city mayor from the very start,” Galpo said.
She said data on positive cases are generated from the two authorized molecular laboratories in the city, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center and Parkway Medical and Diagnostic Center.
These laboratories submit results to the DOH-CAR which in turn submits these to the city through the CHSO.
The CHSO then gives daily reports after conducting validation of the cases which explains why at times there were discrepancies between the reports of the city and the DOH-CAR.
The inconsistency last Jan. 27 was unusual because the city and the DOH-CAR’s data were close at 18 and 20, respectively. 
Galpo said upon validation, the two cases that DOH-CAR earlier tagged to Baguio were found to be actual residents of Itogon, Benguet and therefore were delisted from Baguio’s record.
Galpo said they had reached out to the DOH central office to verify the apparent error in the number of cases.
DOH Regional Director Ruby Constantino clarified the 121 report that came out on national television did not come from their office.
“I do not know where the national news got their data as definitely these did not come from the DOH-CAR. Since Jan. 1, wala pa kaming data na umabot ng 100 ang cases ng Baguio,” Constantino said in a press briefing Jan. 28. – Aileen P. Refuerzo