The
2017 health statistic shows that Occidental Mindoro is number 2 in the list of
prevalence of malnutrition in MIMAROPA and yet, the province still come up with
the money for a lavish hosting of a regional athletic meet. Well, meets like
this need not be this extravagant or, pardon the word, wasteful.
The
last time an event held in the province with this intensity is in 1970 and that
was 48 years ago. True, this would boost local economy in a way and really an
opportune time to put our province in the map. But these cannot be laid as
excuses for such an excessive spending especially if our children, the fair
hopes of our locality, are suffering from the debacle with regards to
nutritional status.
As
far as I know, the DepEd’s only main concern in each RAA holding, aside of
course from the non-tangible development of youth in sports, is the safety of
the athletes and delegates, the appropriateness and suitability of sports facilities
and accommodation. The preparation, as others have observed, is more sumptuous
than Palarong Pambansa, the national meet. The holding of RAAs provides an avenue for
friendly competition that develops physically fit and upright individuals. It
also serves as springboard in the development of desirable attitudes and values
among the youth to become productive, responsible and worthy leaders and
citizens of our country. So, the grandeur of the welcome and closing ceremonies are
supposedly just optional and not the main menu.
In
2016, the Municipality of Sablayan lost its bid to host the 2017 RAA to Municipality
of Brooke’s Point in Palawan. Prior to the bidding, the municipality already put into place major requirements, especially sports facilities and physical structures. According to certain DepEd policy, hosting of a
municipality in any province requires first the official nod of its governor and
the municipality’s Letter of Intent must be endorsed by him/her. That is why
Sablayan didn’t get it the first time. The following year, while the games are
unfolding in Brooke’s Point, the MIMAROPA RAA Meet Board again convened for the
bidding. Instead of endorsing Municipality of Sablayan’s second bid, the
governor bid for the whole Province of Occidental Mindoro.
So,
both the Municipality of Sablayan and the Province of Occidental Mindoro joined
the process as competitors. There it was voted and approved by the Board that
the 2018 RAA will be held in a Municipality in Occidental Mindoro (and later the
provincial officials decided to hold it in San Jose). For the year 2019, an
election year, the Municipality of Sablayan was officially selected to host the
RAA. Sablayan is next in line, as the song goes.
I
have heard from the grapevine that an estimated total amount of Php 17,856,
250.00 is allocated by the Provincial Government for the event broken down as
follows: Opening Program and Grand Parade, Welcome Night, Solidarity Meetings,
Unity Night, Closing Program, Incident Command System, Sports Equipment and
Coordinators’ Meeting. Not included, of course, is the financial allotment for
the physical construction of sports facilities and the newly-constructed Occidental
Mindoro Grandstand which is allegedly pegged at Php 27M. In DepEd’s DO 14, s. 1999 on the
Austerity Measures in the Conduct of Sports Meets it is stated, “Austerity measures shall be observed in the
conduct of sports meets in all levels. Ceremonies shall be in the simplest mode
and format, with entertainment numbers included without additional costs.” The Welcome Night alone has a budgetary
requirement of Php 6.2M and the purchase of sports equipage is marked at Php 5M, the two largest cuts of the pie. I have no qualms about the latter for the equipments can be used in other sporting events. It's the former that wowed me!
Obviously,
there was financial sharing pact among the Provincial Government, the Office of the
Congressman and LGU-San Jose other than that from private donors or outsources like,
maybe, Senator Loren Legarda, who happens to be the guest of honour to grace
the occasion. Same assistance from said internal sources is expected next year
since the future host municipality is also part of the province like San Jose.
Based
on the data from the state of nutrition for MIMAROPA, Occidental Mindoro ranked
2nd in malnourishment. The province has a total of 3,440 pre-school
children that are underweight; 1,175 pre-school children are severely
underweight. The province’s total number of malnourished children is 4,698. In
sum, Occidental Mindoro’s malnutrition prevalence rate is 83.03% and a malnourishment
precedence rate of 7.71%. Ranked 1st
is Palawan. Palawan as a province never bid for RAA but Puerto Princesa and
Brooke’s Point, all belong to Palawan, already hosted the regional meet.
After
the RAA, a backlash in the public coffer for the rest of the year is imminent. The
chunk of big money allotted to the meet could be more responsive if forestalled
to address the malnutrition issue and other health issues in general like manpower
resources for public hospitals especially health care professionals like nurses. Not to mention the job orders or JO personnel stationed in health care facilities whose salaries are always delayed. Not to mention the shortage of medicines in said hospices. With such a huge cut in the MOOE and other expenditures in the year's Annual Investment Program (AIP), our agony on health care will be prolonged. Also, every time an
indigent child-patient dies in a public hospital, say, San Jose District
Hospital, due to diseases attributable to malnutrition and was not given proper
medicines and treatment, people will think how improvident the province’s accommodation
of the 2018 RAA is. This is how I see it and I may be wrong.
To
be fair to all, among us Filipinos, hospitality and simplicity are bi-polar
values which can be negative or positive, healthy or unhealthy. Depending on
how we see and weight things in a given time…
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(Photo:
CJ Dangeros)
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