AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 4, 2010 2 AROUND the UNIVERSITY TOWN DR. APARICIO ‘PERRY’ H. MEQUI


THE STARTING BLOKE


docmequi@yahoo.com A


exuberant, and in all cases, were from poor families. I knew all three of them personally. And I often interacted with them. Let’s give them  ctitious names to protect their identity. Weena was enrolled in my


ll three of them had something in common. Pretty, smiling faces,


loyalty to her assignment that carried the Junior Red Cross to back-to-back awards as the most outstanding student organization on campus. In her senior year, Maryjane got pregnant and dropped out of school completely. Charisse had a bright


PE 1 class in the  rst semester of 2006. Fair-skinned with blondish hair and ready smile, she was easily recognizable on campus. Whenever I saw her between classes, I would ask her how her grades were, and smilingly, she would answer that they were good. She was taking up nursing, her schooling  nanced by a sister working abroad. In her junior year, she fell in love, and I often saw her and her boyfriend at Sunday mass, holding hands even as they bowed their heads in solemn prayer. I was thrilled


future ahead of her taking up agribusiness. I encouraged her to get good grades, and who knows, I would tell her, “Someday, you might be manager of the FU farm in Amlan.” Towards the end of her senior year, she got pregnant by her boyfriend who was also an SA. She, too, had to drop out of school. Another thing that was


common among them was that they were required to leave school because of an institutional policy regarding unmar r ied gir ls get t ing pregnant. An unwritten rule


schooling, or the health risks of early pregnancy such as malnutrition, inadequate pre- natal care, abortion, fetal death, or cervical cancer. Although abortion is illegal


in the Philippines, it is shocking to note a higher abortion rate of 25/1000 women here compared to the USA where abortion is legal at 23/1000 women. The rate could even be higher if data on back door abortions resorted to with hilots are available. Not all co-eds who get


pregnant are able to rebuild their lives by going back to school and continue with their studies. In an article titled Unwed, pregnant—and kicked out written by Rachel C. Balawid, she attributes the reason to why many teen-aged girls fail to rebuild their lives after getting pregnant: the “long- time policy of most Catholic


Unitown and teen pregnancy


at the sight of two young people deeply in love. One day, I learned that


Weena dropped out from school. Nobody knew where she was. Later on, I learned that she got pregnant. When she came back to school, what I saw was an entirely different girl. The healthy body looked frail, the smiling face looked drawn with premature wrinkles covering her forehead, and when I tried to talk to her, she was evasive and didn’t seem eager to talk to me. One day, I asked her if her baby was a boy or a girl and she quickly answered “Boy”, and hurried away unable to hear me say: “Good, when he’s grown up, you have somebody to protect you.” Maryjane was taking a


business management course, was a student assistant, and a member of the Junior Red Cross. She was the most responsible student I ever had assigned to help me manage the marathon clinic and sports events I organized. She was always the  rst to arrive at the Rizal Blvd. where I  rst held the Dumaguete marathon races; and assembly time was at 5 a.m. Arriving very early ahead of everybody, she would sit on one of the benches, bend over and rest her head on the medicine box she was carrying, and take a nap while waiting for the start of the race. When assigned to handle  rst aid in sporting events that would start at 7 a.m. and end as late as 9 p.m., she would be there, leaving only her post for short breaks. I think, it was her


of many academic institutions like Foundation University is that any unmarried girl who gets pregnant must  le a leave of absence and leave school. No girl who fell into the predicament of pregnancy ever attempted to contest this unwritten code of conduct. Let’s first consider the


following statistics before we go any further: In the Philippines, a study conducted by the UP Population Institute and the Demographic Research Foundation in 2002 showed that 26 percent of Filipino youth nationwide, ages 15 to 25, admitted to have had premarital sex, and that 38 percent are in a living-in arrangement. T h e 1 9 9 8 Na t i o n a l Demographic & Health Survey indicated that 3.6 million of Filipino teenagers (that’s 5.2 percent of our population) got pregnant. In 92 percent of these teens, the pregnancy was unplanned, and 78 percent did not use contraceptives the  rst time they had sexual intercourse. Many of them were ignorant of the fact that a single act of intercourse could get a girl pregnant. These stats show that the


stories of Weena, Maryjane, and Charisse are not isolated cases of teen-aged girls getting pregnant, who experience either an interrupted period of studies, or dropped out of school completely. While some manage to


come back to school, get their degrees, and rebuild their lives, others suffer the consequences of unfinished


schools…which consists of granting a leave of absence, or outright expulsion”. The implementing rules


and regulations of R.A. 9710, otherwise known as the Magna Carta of Women, forbids all forms of discrimination against women, including a school’s refusal to grant enrollment or work to unmarried pregnant students and teachers. Not all agree, however, as


some sectors say the provision is not just unconstitutional, but may even be sending the wrong signals to the youth. Section 13 of the MCW


particularly provoked the most instances of debate among authors of the law and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines: “Expulsion and non-readmission of women faculty due to pregnancy outside of marriage shall be outlawed. No primary or secondary school shall turn out or refuse admission to female student solely on the account of her having contracted pregnancy outside of marriage during her term in school.” A congressman opposed


to the law posited that this provision is “an impermissible intrusion into the practice of religion and the academic freedom of an institution. Under state and civil laws,


pre-marital sex and getting pregnant out of wedlock are not illegal and immoral. This is possible if a single woman who gets pregnant does not run counter to the mission, vision, or objective of a particular educational institution. It could be applicable in


women get preference. They do better in boarding houses, which commonly advertise rooms “only for Lady”; they dominate the work force, where service and salespeople are usually female; and they are a majority in colleges, where most of the students and faculty are women. Women are not usually construction workers or


It’s not only in CRs that GUIHULNGAN....FROM P. 1


initiatives to raise money.” Th e r ev e r s ion o f


Guihulngan back to a municipality will also have an impact on the salary scale of its employees as well as the status of additional positions created like the schools division of Guihulngan, and the fate of its ninth and tenth councilors. Cities require ten counci lor s whi le municipalities only need eight.


of Interior and Local Government will allow them to continue serving the people because they were elected by the people,”


“I hope the Department


Limkaichong said. She also said that a


Representative, she will revisit the law creating cities as embodied in the Local Government Code. “I’m looking at the possibility of sharing the IRA between cities and municipalities so that only a local government unit’s population and land area will be the basis for the determination of cityhood. Wi th the drop in


IRA, Guihulngan as a municipality should come up with innovative ways to earn funds. “I will be there


to help them,” Limkaichong assured. Apart from Guihulngan,


presidents; but men usually get to be Generals, Cabinet Se cr eta r i e s and chie f executives. Below that level, women increasingly rise. In the Upper Middle sections of the culture, women already have an edge; in the working middle, and in the home, they dominate the culture completely. Only at the very bottom do the men rise again. On the streets at night,


Women may also be


shows a decided gender preference. It’s true that women always need more room to sit in the CR, while men can mostly stand; still it’s doubtful that they need twice as much room.


T JOHN STEVENSON


MINORITY REPORT


his sign is on the wall in the hall in the Sidlakan Cultural Center, and


john.stevenson@foundationU.com


s t e vedor e s , whi ch i s understandable; certain occupations are reserved for men. But as these men make their way home, they often stop at little stores to have a few beers with their friends; and the store is almost always owned -- by a woman.


the drug addicts and the sleeping drunks are rarely women. In a place so heavily


dominated by women in the school, in the workplace and in the home, the “macho” attitudes of boys and men seem defensive; more gestures of defiance than a show of real strength and leadership. Even the drunken violence of some men toward the women in their lives seems not to come from a desire to dominate, but from the frustrations they feel at their lack of power. S t i l l , a n y h uma n


popula t ion i s a lways evenly split between men and women in number; so whatever relations between them persist must happen by mutual consent. Despite protest, there are advantages in being dominated. If women hold the power, they also bear the responsibility; and the men are content to be irresponsible from boyhood on.


with two CRs for females and only one for males, is colored a pale pink -- not the most masculine color. But notice also that the light switch on the wall is slightly tilted, skewed off center, badly mounted by the construction workers, who were certainly men.


This sign on the wall,


the other cit ies which were reverted to towns are Baybay in Leyte, Bogo in Cebu, Catbalogan in Samar, Tandag in Surigao del Sur, Lamitan in Basilan, Borongan in Samar, Tayabas in Quezon, Tabuk in Kalinga, Bayugan in Agusan del Sur, Batac in Ilocos Norte, Mati in Davao Oriental, Cabadbaran in Agusan del Norte, El Salvador in Misamis Oriental, Carcar in Cebu and Naga in Cebu.


state colleges, universities TO PAGE 8


Republic of the Philippines Regional Trial Court 7th Judicial Region Branch 45 Bais City


In re: correction of entries on the birth


record of Jimmy C. Tañesa with the Local Civil Registrar of Mabinay and the Civil Registrar General, National Statistics Of ce, Manila


Jimmy C. Tañesa, Petitioner


The Civil Registrar General (NSO) and the and the Local Civil Registrar of Mabinay, Negros Oriental, Respondent X- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - / ORDER


SPL Proc. No. MY-10-38


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Record of Jimmy Tañesa,  led by Petitioner through counsel, Atty. Alfonso C. Pestolante, dated July 29, 2010, praying that after due notice, publication, and hearing, an Order shall be issued directing the Of ce of the Local Civil Reg- istrar of Mabinay, Negros Oriental, and the Civil Registrar General, National Statistics Of ce to correct Petitioner’s gender/sex in her birth certi cate from male to FEMALE. Finding the Petition to be suf cient in form and substance, the court sets


Before this Court is a veri ed petition for Correction of Entry in the Birth


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the initial hearing thereof on Oct. 25, 2010 at 8:30 in the morning at the Session Hall of this Court at which date, time, and place, all interested persons may appear and show cause, if any, why the Petition should not be granted. Let this Order be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the


Mabinay, Negros Oriental, and the Civil Registrar General, National Statistics Of ce of this Order with a copy of the Petition and its annexes, and to the Of-  ce of the Solicitor Genera with address at 134 Amorsolo St., Legaspi Villege, Makati City, and show proof of service thereof. So ordered. Bais City, Philippines, July 30, 2010


(Sgd.) Candelario V. Gonzalez Judge


MetroPost August 22 • August 29 • September 5• 2010


Province of Negros Oriental and its component cities once a week for at least three consecutive weeks before the date of hearing. Petitioner is hereby directed to furnish the Local Civil Registrar of


12:30 pm 1:30 pm 3:00 pm 4:30 pm


6:00 pm 7:30 pm 9:30 pm 11:30 pm


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