Operation circumcision held

More than 600 boys were served in the series of operation circumcision (tuli) organized and participated in by the Visayas Primary Health Care Services, Inc. in April and May.

VPHCS staff, volunteers and students of the Gullas College of Medicine rendered the annual summer services in eight communities. They were held in cooperation with the local people’s organizations, local government units (LGU) or other non-government organizations.

Students of Gullas College of Medicine 

in the St. Mary Grace, Talamban circumcision

They included the following, namely:

1. Baclayon, Bohol on April 10 with the LGU of Baclayon and Students Alliance for Community Health Services.

2. Medellin, Cebu - April 25-26 with the Perez Monasque Foundation.

3. Caluasan, Dagohoy, Bohol - April 30 with the local farmers’ organization.

4. Sitio St. Mary Grace, Talamban, Cebu City – May 4 with the St. Mary Grace Neighborhood Association.

5. Tangke, Talisay – May 6 with the Tangke United Fisherfolks Association.

6. Tipolo, Mandaue City – May 9 with the barangay council of Tipolo.

7. Inayawan, Cebu City – May 18 with the Gabriela – Inayawan chapter and Enfants du Mekong Foundation.

8. Bangkal, Lapu-lapu City – May 22 with the Justice and Peace Integrity of Creation – Integrated Development Center.

9. Kinatarcan island, Sta. Fe, Cebu - May 25-26 with the Sto. Nino Basilica Foundation.

 Circumcision in the town cultural center in Baclayon, Bohol

 Nearly 100 boys were served in Caluasan, Dagohoy

 Boys in St. Mary Grace. Talamban awaiting their turn

 Volunteers in the Tangke, Talisay circumcision

Circumcision in Tipolo, Mandaue City 

organized by the local government unit

Glaring statistics prove need for urgently passing RH bill

By Janess Ann J. Ellao
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The House of Representatives and the Senate is set to take a recess this week for the Holy Week break. Sessions will resume on May 7. There are speculations that if the impeachment process has been completed by then, the Congress will finally vote on the controversial Reproductive Health Bill.

In a press conference in Quezon City, authors of the Reproductive Health Bill in the Lower House, together with advocates, call on the Congress to pave the way for the “passage of the decade long, pending Reproductive Health bill and make it see the light of day,” the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. said in a statement.

“Women and children are dying unnecessarily with President Benigno S. Aquino III’s failure to deliver much needed health care services to women,” Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan said, “Hemorrhage, eclampsia and sepsis infections are easily preventable causes of maternal and infant deaths yet Filipinos continue to suffer and die of these everyday because facilities are inadequate and there are no skilled healthcare professionals for childbirth.”

In January 2012 alone, the Department of Health has documented 50 incidents of maternal deaths in Metro Manila. On March 19, 2012, two new incidents of abandoned babies in Quezon City and in Davao were reported.

In a Philippine Star report, Roddie Santiago, a village officer, said the mother of the newborn baby found in Quezon City probably intended her baby to live because the mother tied it in such a way that you would not mistake it for trash. “The problem is she might not have the sufficient resources to support the needs of the newborn, forcing her to abandon the baby,” the report read.


(Photo by Anne Marxze D. Umil/Bulatlat.com)

“What could be more glaring than that? Clearly, we have a problem in reproductive health concerns of mothers, young people, among poor couples particularly,” Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc.

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