OPINION

CLOTHESLINE SIGNAL By Juan Mercado

Kids’ school uniforms, flapping on clotheslines, don’t raise eyebrows. Except when they’re strung in ghettos of indigenous tribal people, like Atis in Sitio Bolabog on glitzy Boracay. “That’s something I didn't see before,” emailed former World Health Organization’s Rabin Sarda.

“Those uniforms are indicators of hope,” says Dr Sarda, who shuttles between Miami and Boracay, yet wedges time to help the once-nomadic Atis. Those clotheslines say: “More Atis are now in school --- and getting a chance to break out of penury.”

Progress inches forward despite relentless pressure, by tax-declaration waving claimants, to shove out Atis from what they say is home. The Catholic Church’s commission on indigenous peoples backs the Atis’ December 2001 claim for a certificate of ancestral domain title. And Senator Jamby Madrigal blasted those shoving Atis out with threats and P2,000 handouts and feet-dragging by government agencies.

“The beautiful white beaches can not disguise the disgusting reality of a concentration camp being built among Boracay’s tourist attractions,” she wrote. Daughters of Charity nuns, who live among the Atis, were “judiciously using a medicine fund provided by private citizens", Dr Sarda noted.

They first use donated drugs, before drawing from the fund “More individuals and organizations contribute time and in kind,” including help to repair typhoon damaged homes. “Contributions to a feeding program, to tamp down malnutrition, have stabilized. An informal education program for youth is ongoing. In school year 2007/2008, two Atis will enter college with scholarships from self-effacing benefactors.”

A February bonus was a mass wedding for 18 couples. An upscale hotel even provided the banquet.”If we keep sprigs of hope in our hearts,” the Chinese say, “the singing bird will come.”

From Emory University Hospital in Atlanta Georgia, Patrick H. O'Brien reacts to an earlier Inquirer column (“Reading beyond Labels”) that reported: A US Food and Drug Administration study, on the military’s $1-billion medical stockpile, found drugs remained effective even 15 years beyond expiry dates.

(I’m) a US pharmacist who worked with eight medical / surgical missions to the Philippines,” O’Brien emailed. “Two were to Tagbilaran City in 1992 and 1994. And I applaud the common sense and non-political approach to the issue of expiration dating on medications in this unbiased column.

"As with most things, expiration dates are simply guidelines to be used. Medications are more affected by storage conditions than by a simple date. How many of us have gotten relief from a headache from a Tylenol that passed its expiration date? How many of us actually look?”

"The well intentioned Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) advises that medicines, imported by foreign medical missions, must have at least a one year expiration date. That may be appropriate for international pharmaceutical companies' imports. But it puts an enormous burden on medical mission donations. They receive most of their donated drugs with a short expiration date of two to six months. How can I request donations, and then demand a one year expiration date?

"Our mission group will leave for a surgical mission to Roxas City. We accumulated medicines that are not expired but lack BFAD's one year required dating. Worse, efforts to contact BFAD to arrange an inspection, by e-mail, regular mail and phone, all went unanswered. Maybe they're busy dreaming up other rules?

From Las Vegas, Nevada, Bunny Arville emailed: A recent lead story, on TV Patrol newscast on Filipino Channel, was a beauty pageant that shocked: a beauty pageant of grandmothers or Lolas in a province.

A few did not apparently have bathing suits. So, they wore skimpy materials that seemed, from my vantage point, like underwear. Many in the audience were seen ridiculing this spectacle. “It was despicable beyond belief. It certainly didn't speak well for those responsible for this project. But then, isn't ratings (translation: money) always the deciding factor in lousy decisions?”

”In Pilipino culture, calling someone ‘Lola’ is a sign of respect -- unlike the Western world that holds getting old is a negative thing. Age comes with honor in our culture. Our grandmothers are those who toiled and loved us. They deserve better.

“In TV, the line between news and entertainment has long vanished. News isentertainment and the death of Anna Nicole Smith (or Kris Aquino’s heartbreak?) Is more entertaining maybe a higher IQ is better than a bigger bosom. To idolize people who use cleavage, as a tool to get ahead in life, is really sick.”

From Elizabeth, New Jersey, Dr Jose Chua writes: “I read the Inquirer column “Mixed Bag”. Here is my experience: I left the Philippines in 1974 as a 27-year old youngster. Now, I’m almost 60. And it is not yet possible for me to return or retire. I’m still doing everything to ensure my family’s welfare. “I am a doctor. I enjoy financial stability. However, my nephews are already college graduates. Yet, they can not support their families, even if they have jobs. So, they still get a subsidy from me.

Probably I am an enabler. But they’re still hard-up. “That was the same plight I found myself in then. At that time, I was already a physician. In addition, I taught in the medical school of a major Manila university. Yet, my income then could hardly support my family. Is there any chance the Philippines will improve?