Health
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04.23.08The Princess of Chico River
UN representative baptized as princess of Bontoc’s Chico River
GMA NetworkBONTOC, Mountain Province - Suneeta Mukherjee, the representative of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) in the Philippines, was baptized as “wagchas” or the “Princess of Chico River” by local government officials in an elaborate ceremony here.
Does that mean that Mukherjee, an Indian national and a strict vegetarian, would be able to partake of pork, the favorite food in Bontoc?
“No,” said Gov. Maximo Dalog. “But this is our way of saying that we are serious in our thrust for population management and development.”
Mountain Province and nearby Ifugao were among the few provinces in Northern Philippines that passed a code for comprehensive reproductive health.
Dalog said that the implementing rules and regulations of the code, as well as the Gender and Development Code were approved recently.
Mukherjee said local government units should not wait for the House and Senate to pass the National Reproductive Health Code.
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OUR TAKE: Hmmm. Princess of Chico River? What a title. Hindi kaya magalit ang mga bading sa Bontoc because that title should be bestowed to one of them not to some “interloper”. Hehe. Joke lang, UNFPA Representative.
Anyways, it’s good that Cordi local government units (LGU) view reproductive health as an important issue. Kudos goes to Ifugao for being the first province in the entire country to pass a reproductive health ordinance. Mt. Province followed and is the second province in the Cordilleras to do so.
Now, after passing their ordinances, the officials of Ifugao and Mt. Province should now buckle down to work to make their ordinance a reality. Let’s hope they won’t back down if the Catholic Bishops threaten them with excommunication, deny them communion, or anything like that.
Ito naman kasing mga obispo sa Pilipinas, biro mo ba namang they equate using condoms or other birth control methods with killing life daw. How very 19th century, ano?
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03.04.08That Cull Chicken
Who would have thought that this harmless looking chicken can be hazardous to our health.
By the way, I once thought that “cull” is a breed of chicken like the Ancona chicken or the Cornish chicken. Stupid me. It turns out that “cull” is not a breed. We just call them that because they are “culled out” from the rest of the flock as they are not that productive in laying eggs. Ito ay ayon sa aking kapatid who should know what he is talking about.
PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Zapata/Baguiocity.com
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02.27.08Beware the Mosquito
Particularly the dengue-carrying ones and especially in places identified by the Department of Health as high risk areas. From the Manila Bulletin:
34 dengue-risk areas identified in Cordillera
By Dexter A. SeeBAGUIO CITY — The Cordillera office here of the Department of Health (DoH) has identified 34 dengue-risk areas in the region. It was feared a dengue outbreak now stalks in these areas.
Of the 34 dengue-stricken areas, 15 barangays are located in this mountain resort city, and the 19 other dengue-risk areas are in the different provinces in the region.
However, health authorities said that there is no cause for alarm because the agency and its partner agencies have put in place programs, projects, and strategies aimed at preventing the spread of dengue fever cases.
Dr. Myrna Cabotaje, DOH-CAR regional director, said that the people could prevent the outbreak of dengue-fever cases in their localities with the right information on the four ways of preventing it.
These are searching and destroying the breeding sites of dengue-carrying mosquitoes, self-protection measures, seeking consultation, and saying “no” to indiscriminate fogging.
Records show that the risk areas in the city are Engineer’s Hill, Aurora Hill, Santa Scholastica, Lucban, Holyghost, City Camp, Hillside, Irisan, Quezon Hill, Kias, San Luis village, Dominican, Mirador, Trancoville, and Asin.
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02.20.08All About Chicken
If the Department of Agriculture (DA) is correct, we may soon be singing “Bye Bye Baby” to the native chicken. According to this report, “native chickens in the Cordillera, Philippines, are disappearing quickly. The region’s Department of Agriculture is concerned that the breed may soon become extinct.”
So who’s to blame for the native chicken going the way of their more famous cousin, the dodo? Blame the fact that not a lot of us are raising native chicken anymore and that we’ve become dependent on commercially raised poultry. Read the article here.
Speaking of commercial chicken, did you know that “cull chicken” is full of antibiotics and hormones and is thus bad for your health? Kind of scary considering that “cull” has effectively replaced the native breed as the Cordillera’s primary source of white meat. The Northern Dispatchreports that said antibiotics and hormones “may cause cancer and other ailments for the consumer.” Read it here.
Seems like we are killing ourselves softly by eating “cull”. Kasla pinikpikan.
