LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza
Siblings with heart ailments need our help

Antonio and Maribel Clarito have squeezed out all their personal sources of finances but have not lost hope because they know that even in a country in crisis, good Samaritans still do exist. Their two sons – Jomar and Jhairich Clarito, 10 and two years old, respectively, were born with congenital heart defects (Tetralogy of Fallot) and badly need medical help.

Attending physicians at the Benguet General Hospital diagnosed Jomar with a heart murmur when he was delivered in 1999. Younger brother Jhairich was normal when he was born in 2006 until five months later when his mother noticed that his lips turned blue everytime he cried.

Ms. Cecil Aayo, sister of La Trinidad municipal engineer Romy Lopez and neighbor of the Clarito household at Lubas, La Trinidad, Benguet had been observing the family and said she feels the hardships being encountered by the family. She pitied the boys knowing that the parents are underemployed.

Antonio has no stable income as he works as a seasonal construction worker, while Maribel, though she wants to work, could not do so because she has to take care of her two sickly boys, her seven-year old daughter Jhoedy Mae, and four-month old son John Michael.

With an unstable income of around P4,000.00; Antonio had to stretch this to pay electric and water bills, a boarding house rented at P1,200 a month, food and other basic needs. “With that situation, there is no more money left to buy medicines for Jomar and Jhairich,” Cecil said.

Sometime in the last quarter of last year, Cecil went to the Amarillo Bar in Baguio City after reading the poster about a benefit concert that was organized for a little boy suffering from the Lymphoma disease.

As she watched the musicians play for the little boy, Cecil who had met adverse experiences herself thought of referring the case of Jomar and Jhairich to the organizers of the benefit concert after the show.

In fact, she said that was why she went to watch the concert, but for some unknown reason she was unable to talk to the organizers.

Last week, she talked to his brother Engr. Lopez who introduced her to Dick Oakes, one of the musicians who had helped organize similar concerts in the past, and they made initial plans about holding a benefit show for the two boys. Dick was the hubby of Juliet and father of Dorcas, both cancer victims who passed on in 2006.

Friends in the music circle in coordination with members of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club, other press groups and concerned barangay officials have organized several benefit concerts for the sick and other causes in the past.

Although, there were times when ticket sales went down due to “donor fatigue,” and so we resorted to sponsoring derby cockfights and other means, if only to help the indigent.

But the musicians have not waned in their “duty” to sing for free and share their God-given talent for people in need. Having been actively part of the music scene in the past, I know that the bands will always play for a good cause.

Initially, Dick and Cecil agreed to schedule the benefit concert for Jomar and Jhairich sometime in the second week of June. It will be held at the La Trinidad municipal gym. Tickets that will be very affordable will soon be distributed around. Please buy and don’t forget to bring a friend. More details will be announced next week.

According to the books, the risk of having a child with congenital heart disease increases from eight in 1,000 to 16 in 1,000 if a parent or sibling, as in the case of the Clarito sons, has a congenital heart disease. But researchers further said that the cause of congenital heart disease is unknown.

Exposure to pesticides during pregnancy may increase the risk of a specific type of congenital heart disease called transposition of the great arteries (TGA). The Clarito family lives in a community of vegetable and cut-flower farmers who use pesticides and chicken dung in their gardens.

Ironically and even with these facts provided by health authorities, LGUs of farming communities signed ordinances that regulated and welcomed at the same time commercial pesticides and chicken dung instead of outlawing them or moving for their complete eradication. They have practically contradicted their move to adopt organic farming.

Filipinos do have the heart for their less fortunate brethren. Benefit shows organized for good causes are literally the acts of cooperation that demonstrate the expression “poor helping the poor” or the “lalaban tayo” TV ad of Senator and presidentiable Mar Roxas.

It is quite similar to Senator Villar’s TV ad which says something about “ang (dating) mahirap ay tumutulong sa kapwa mahirap” but, their applications are different. Benefit concerts are of the needy and organized for and by the needy. Talents, friendship and coordination are applied here, not money dole-out as in the “tulong” in Villar’s TV ad.

Fine, but if the presidentiables who will surely be spending billions of pesos anyway can only set aside their personal ambitions even for just a minute and look after the welfare of the Jomars and Jhairichs in the country, then there won’t be any need to organize benefit concerts for the time being.

Probably, it would also be good if authorities confiscated from profit-greedy drugstores and manufacturers all the effective but expensive medicines and give these to the sick and poor. And it would surely be better if Jueteng lords allot just a day of the month’s ill-gotten wealth for the sick, instead of sharing it to their allies in government. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com