Dry leaves, stagnant water, discarded plastic, empty bottles and an assortment of household trash are the top five mosquito breeding traps, according to a report by The Sandy Project’s designated Dengue Police team from Feria Community at Barangay Matandang Balara (Old Balara) in Quezon City.
Deputized by The Sandy Project founder Ma. Louella Martinez-Aranas in September 2025, the ten student-volunteers Dengue Police (DP) kids, ages 10 – 15, has since regularly patrolled their immediate neighborhoods to check breeding grounds of mosquitoes and to encourage practicing dengue prevention measures within homes and immediate neighborhoods.
“Marami pong dahon, basura, plastic at tubig kanal,” says DP Sky, 11 years old. “Naglinis po kami ng kanal at nagsabi po sa mga kapitbahay na tumulong maglinis sa paligid para hindi kami ma-dengue.”
(“A lot of plant leaves, trash, plastic and stagnant water… We clean the canal’s stagnant water and tell our neighbors to help us clean up our surroundings, so we won’t catch dengue fever.”)
DP Nina and Jenny, both 12 years old, echoed Sky’s observations within their own areas. “Kaya po nagwawalis kami ng mga kalat, dahon at tubig na hindi umaagos,” they said. (We regularly sweep and discard trash and dried leaves as well as stagnant water.)
DP Jenny, 12, and Airama, 13, shared that in their respective areas, there were mosquitoes in front of their houses… so “naglilinis kami ng kanal at nagwawalis ng basura.” (We clean the canal and sweep the trash)
Some 7,471 dengue cases were reported from January 4 to 24, 2026, significantly lower than the 25,652 cases recorded in the comparable period in 2025, according to The Department of Health (DOH).
“It’s very heartening to hear the significant drop in dengue cases. We will continue being vigilant in our anti-dengue campaign. We encourage everyone to join us, together with our Dengue Police kids, to keep virus-carrying dengue mosquitoes from breeding and spreading,” says Aranas, who lost her then 10-year-old daughter Sandy to dengue fever in February 2013, began her advocacy to raise awareness of dengue and encourage prevention measures.
The 10 Dengue Police student-volunteers are from Commonwealth Elementary School and are under the supervision of Old Balara Barangay Kagawad Marilyn Diche and volunteer mother Rose Alcazer.
The Sandy Project is expected to activate more ‘Dengue Police’ teams – comprising volunteers from local schools and barangays (communities) – in the next few months to intensify its anti-dengue campaign in local communities.
“No lamok. No dengue. Let’s fight dengue together!” rallies Aranas.
If you’re interested to join ‘Dengue Police’ please email: info@thesandyproject.com
