US-based NGO to donate P46-M hospital equipment to Mexico

MEXICO, Pampanga --- A US-based non-government organization is set to donate P46-million worth of life-saving equipment to the soon-to-be-opened community hospital in this town.

Yesterday, George Samson, director of operations and chief operating officer of the World Medical Relief, Inc. (WMRI), reaffirmed the shipping of two 40-foot container containing slightly used medical equipment from the US.

Samson said the WMRI has committed to send the medical equipment, from as big as hospital beds, operating room tables and lights, X-ray, Ultrasound and dialysis machines to as small as stethoscopes for the Mexico Community Hospital.

With the donation, the newly-built hospital will be fully-operational.

Samson said that the Philippines, which is one of the 120 recipient-countries for medical equipment from WMRI, has received close to $490-million worth of aids in the form of medical equipment and medicines from the group.

Established in 1953, WMRI is a multi-funded, non-profit charitable organization whose mission is to impact the well-being of the medically impoverished on a local, national, and international basis, Samson said.

WMR achieves this through the collection of financial donations and goods, including medical, dental, and laboratory items, as well as through the purchase and distribution of such commodities.

“Goods are distributed in a non-discriminatory manner without regard to race, color, gender, religion, nationality or political beliefs,” Samson added.

Aside from the medical equipment WMRI has also committed to donate $100,000 worth of medicine to be distributed in a medical mission that would coincide with the launching of the Mexico Community Hospital.

Mexico Mayor Teddy C. Tumang on Sunday signed with Samson a deed to formally seal the donation.

Under the agreement, the municipal government would shoulder the shipping cost of the medical equipment.

Tumang said the donation was made possible with the help of the Rotary Club of Eastern Pampanga, whose charter president, Rudy Mallari, accompanied Tumang’s group in the US to seek the support of WMRI for the hospital equipment.

“These medical equipments will boost our ability to provide quality health services to our people through the Mexico Community Hospital. We are whole-heartedly thankful to the WMRI for these donations,” Tumang said.

The 50-bed capacity community hospital is being constructed by the municipal government in Barangay San Carlos here through a short-term loan with the Development Bank of the Philippines.

Bishops urging Panlilio to return to priesthood

By Albert B. Lacanlale

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- The three bishops of Pampanga are unanimously urging Gov. Eddie Panlilio to return to priesthood after his term in politics expired in 2010.

This was confirmed by both Archbishop Paciano Aniceto and Panlilio in separate interviews over provincial radio station DWRW.

Aniceto said the clergy is awaiting Panlilio’ return to priestly duties after the 2010 elections since the latter only asked for three years for his foray in the political arena.

Panlilio was suspended from his canonical duties when he decided to run for governor in 2007. If he were to run again in 2010 he would be stripped of his priesthood.

“He only asked for three years and it would be better for him to return to his priesthood,” Aniceto said, claiming that even Bishops Pablo David and Roberto Mallari also have the same advice for their suspended fellow.

Panlilio said there are camps urging him to either seek for a national office or try reelection come the 2010 polls.

Panlilio explained though that his top priority is to leave politics and return to being a priest. However, he might remain in politics “if the need arises.”

“My entry to the political arena was an answer to a need—the need for an alternative candidate that could govern the province with moral ascendancy. And I might consider running again next year if the same call arises,” Panlilio said.

He said that in 2007, he was just one of the eight probable candidates being drafted to run against then governor Mark Lapid and former board member Lilia Pineda. The two officials were being linked to quarry collection irregularities and illegal gambling, respectively.

Among the eight choices to run for governor were sociologist Randy David, retired Justice Artemio Panganiban and businessman Renato Romero, who all begged off after numerous deliberations.

Panlilio said he is an advocate of good governance and “would offer myself again for the province or the country” if there would be no other candidates who could espouse transparent and corruption-free governance.

DPWH to remove 1,200 acacia trees to widen road

By Albert B. Lacanlale

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO--- In the next three to five years, some 1,200 age-old acacia trees in Pampanga will be either cut down or removed by “earthballing” to give way to the expansion project for the Manila North Road (MacArthur Highway) here.

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Luzon director Alfredo Tolentino said the department has obtained a permit from the Environment Department to remove the trees that hamper the widening effort for the highway, which is planned to be expanded from four-lane to six-lane.

Cutting of trees actually started early this month in Barangay Sindalan, several meters from the DPWH regional office compound here.

Tolentino said the cutting of trees will be conducted only on sections that have allocation for the widening. The project for the total 150-kilometer stretch of the MNR from Meycauayan, Bulacan to San Manuel, Pangasinan seeks a budget of P5 billion.

“We will not move the trees if we do not have budget yet for that section,” Tolentino said.

The cutting of the initial 300 trees in Pampanga resumed despite calls from environmental advocates to preserve the trees and for the government to seek a win-win solution to the traffic problem along the inter-provincial highway without sacrificing the environment.

Last week, Pampanga Board Member Ricardo Yabut appealed to the DPWH to reconsider the plan of massive cutting of some 1,581 acacia trees---as specified in the DERN permit--from Apalit town to this city.

Yabut, who chairs the provincial board’s committee on environment, said a committee hearing is in order to raise issues on the cutting of trees.

Development, he said, “should not be done at the expense of the environment.

Tolentino, however, said that the cutting of the trees is a must to achieve the master development plan of MacArthur, which has been receiving millions of pesos in allocation for widening and provision of line canals.

Initially, he said, trees along the road south of the DPWH office in Barangay Sindalan will be removed while they are waiting for the rest of the budget for the totality of the project.

“We will start cutting or earthballing trees where we would be already doing widening works. The rest of the trees will only be removed once we are ready to commence work in such areas,” Tolentino said.

As a condition for the removal of the trees, the DENR directed the DPWH to initiate tree-planting activities—replacing every fully-grown acacia tree with 30 tree saplings on designated areas. The seedlings of indigenous species shall be approximately one centimeter in diameter from the root collar and at least three feet in height.

The DENR has assigned areas of the FVR Megadike for tree planting activities.

Tolentino said logs or timber and derivable wood materials to be recovered from the cut trees shall be stockpiled in a common depository area identified by the community offices of the DENR for safekeeping, management and proper disposition.