Thursday 28 January 2010

PATIENT SEEKS AG&PFI HELP

January 26, 2010 – AG&P Compound – San Roque, Bauan, Batangas – On an invitation by Barangay Councilor and AG&P Warehouse Supervisor Juan U. Magboo to AG&PFI Executive Director Renato M. Alarcon, The AG&P Company of Manila Foundation Inc. visited the residence of a certain Mr. Hermando Villamor, 64, single of #18 Sitio 1, Barangay Gulibay, Bauan, Batangas to find the patient worthy of immediate attention and financial assistance. The request by Councilor Juan Magboo to assist Mr. Villamor was based on compassion after seeing the patient desolated by pain anguishing from a pouching avocado like lymph on his left ear hedge which looked like a lymphoma. With the benefit of a doubt, Juan Magboo sought counsel through Mr. Alarcon so they may subject the patient to thorough check-up to determine his ailment and immediately deter the contamination, if there was any. “I recall, gazing at the wound, seeing discharges and drips of beige colored liquids I reckon to be ‘pus’” Mr. Ben S. Aclan, Community Relation’s Manager recollected when asked. Pus is a whitish-yellow, yellow or yellow-brown exudate produced by vertebrates during inflammatory pyogenic bacterial infections. An accumulation of pus in an enclosed tissue space is known as an abscess, while a visible collection of pus within or beneath the epidermis is known as a pustule or pimple. Pus is produced from the dead and living cells which travel into the intercellular spaces around the affected cells. On January 29, 2010, AG&PFI Executive Director R.M. Alarcon, sent another team to invite Mr. Hermando Villamor to seek professional help from Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Company of Manila, Inc. Physician Dr. Mike Cayetano and Bauan Municipal Health Officer (MHO), Victor Bejer. Dr. Victor Bejer showed AG&PFI and Juan Magboo a picture of a lymph node Cancer brought about by smoking. Bejer had been sponsoring seminars on the bad effects of smoking for ten (10) years now. His father died of Cancer and he vouched to inform everyone of the menace so that this may be prevented or cured in the earliest find of a symptom. Although this was the first actual living-case Dr. Bejer had ever witness, he assumed that the inflamed or enlarged various conditions were caused by prolonged smoking coupled by habitual drinking. He told AG&PFI that he can not rule out with definitive medical expertness the condition of the patient unless a complete diagnose has been accomplished by the Philippine General Hospital or qualified Doctor. A biopsy is one concluding exam we can all rely on at the moment. Batangas has no adequate equipment or expertise to determine his actual medical condition. Lymphoma is a cancer that begins in the lymphocytes of the immune system and presents as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. These malignant cells often originate in lymph nodes, presenting as an enlargement of the node (a tumor). Dr. Michael Cayetano, AG&P Physician, recommended that the patient be brought to Manila as soon as possible for immediate treatment followed by medical check-ups. In the meantime, Cayetano nursed the wound twice and cleansed the abrasions to contain the infections which were visibly inflaming. Executive Director RM Alarcon awarded relief goods containing assorted food products like soups, noodles, coffees, 8 kilos of rice and canned goods. Cottons, pillows and bed sheets, a bed foam, bath soaps, liquid and detergent soaps, rubber gloves, disinfectants, betadines, shampoos, toothpastes, deodorants and many others were also given to the patient. Ivy Mendoza, Municipal Health Nurse accompanied the AG&PFI team to bring the patient back to his abode. The family was assembled together with the Barangay Captain and some public officials on a forum created to discuss plans for Mr. Villamor. “I don’t have the strength to travel anymore. I am willing to wait for and face my Creator”, as tears shed from Hermando’s face. AG&PFI supervisor for community relations Roldan Anunciado promptly said that everything will be alright and the foundation will be his strength as long as he remains steadfast. Anunciado assured the family of Villamor that AG&PFI will do its part in collating help for the family but they themselves have to unite and firm-up a decision to care for Mr. Villamor primarily before anything else. They must decide soon if they want to send Mang Hermando to PGH or not and again poised help anytime they call upon AG&P Company of Manila Foundation, Inc.

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Philippine Airforce joins AG&PFI in tree planting.

'Kalayaan Heights' in San Agustin, Bauan Batangas was recently declared as deforested mountain by the CENRO after series of inspections were made following the decline in foliage and tourism thereat. The once known Kalayaan valleys were havens for camping by tourists and locals, peak for mountaineers and favorite Boys & Girl Scouts of the Philippines jamboree spot. Local officials blame the exploitation of Kalayaan heights to have greatly affected 'flora and fauna' which led to the decrease in the count of trees as well as reproduction of seedlings for reforestation. Cenro retracts otherwise by saying that we cannot entirely put the blame on these accounts. About a million of fruit bearing and shady trees were unaccounted for this year passing El Niño phenomenon and force majure' from 2004 to 2009. Disconcerted significantly was tourism and the local economy of Bauan, focusing on the "poor tourism earning locals" of San Agustin and nearby barangays. The loss, CENRO says, could not be finger pointed to anyone, any human in this case, but on nature's ferocity and environment's reactions to climate changes. The tropical flux in Kalayaan Heights expected evolution before 2011 but came too soon, CENRO added. The AG&P Company of Manila Foundation, Inc. in cooperation with the Philippine Air Force jointly conducted a "Save Kalayaan Heights Movement" tree planting operations just recently to augment the declining tourism in Batangas. The move was to bring back the grandeur of San Agustin Kalayaan Heights in the soonest time so that eco-tourism and its exquisiteness return. 500 trees were donated by AG&PFI through the auspices of Marketing and Information Manager (Community Relation's Manager) Ben S. Aclan to the PAF of Fernando Airbase who planted them through four (4) battalions headed by the following charge officers; LTC Salathan C. Ypulong PAF, OIC, 3rd AFRCEN Maj. Arnold R. Bagamaspad PAF, Ex-O, 2Lt. Marlon M. Senon PAF, Admin Officer MSg Ignacio H. Gobres Jr. Sgt Major of AFRCEN. 2lt Ramon C. Narte PAFR MSg Benigno Lopez TSg Rico M. Maya SSg Ramil Villavicencio AIC Ernie T. Malujie AIC Ronald H. Silva AIC Hildnest Write Llanes A1C Renie Manalo The rehabilitation of Kalayaan heights was also supported by seven (7) barangay captains of Bauan who expressly showed espousal to the principles of the program and actually helped plant Mahogany trees in 'K' peak. Brgy Captain of Manalupang, Mely D. Castillo, San Agustin, Loreto C. Dimayacyac, Rizal, William M. Buenviaje, Sta. Maria, Jose Restie B. Agena, Durungao, Marciano A. Abante, Pitugo, Joseph G. Cepillo and San Roque, Leopoldo R. Salcedo joined AG&PFI and PAF in the actual planting of Mahogany trees in the side of Kalayaan mountains and vouched utmost protection and caring for the trees. AG&PFI, PAF and the Municipality of Bauan jointly adopted Kalayaan Heights as their sponsored mountain for the next five to ten years from today.