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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Thursday, August 17, 2017
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ILOILO City – What is it with women’s breasts that even supposedly honorable men cannot control themselves and start acting like stark raving perverts?
The city’s vice mayor and a city councilor were criticized for “insensitive” comments and cavalier jokes on breastfeeding during the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Aug. 15 regular session.
It stemmed from Mayor Jed Patrik Mabilog’s endorsement of a memorandum of understanding between two private hospitals – AMOSUP Seamen’s Hospital and Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital – to establish lactation/breastfeeding stations in workplaces.
A puzzled Vice Mayor Jose Espinosa III, presiding officer, asked the SP, “Ano ‘ni hambal ‘ya? Kabudlay sini. Ang ga-istorya di’ seamen kag breastfeeding?”
Councilor Eduardo Peñaredondo, floor leader, replied, “Ma-put up bala ang hospital sang kwarto nga palasupsupan bala…ang bata bala mag-sup—-, mag-dede bala.”
“Ang supsop lain man na ‘ya sa dede,” Espinosa retorted, eliciting laughter from colleagues and spectators.
Peñaredondo replied, “Abi ko pareho lang, magdede gale….ang bata ‘ya ang ga-dede…”
Espiñosa asked, “Ang supsop ‘ya, ano ‘na ‘ya?”
Then he added: “Amo na gani, iban nga mga tatay indi gusto, kay siling nila ‘Akon ‘na ‘ya, ngaa pahilabtan sang bata ko.’”
This exchange between the two men, both lawyers and family men, disappointed those attending the SP session and those advocating breastfeeding for babies.
A father who witnessed what happened remarked, “Indi nagakadapat. As if wala sila respeto sa mga nanay.” He asked not to be identified.
Another from the gallery suggested that Espinosa, Peñaredondo and other councilors need “gender sensitivity training.”
In a related story, the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 will conduct two big breastfeeding initiatives aimed at promoting breastfeeding among women in Iloilo and Antique provinces.
DOH-6 regional nutritionist and dietician Ma. Azucena Arroyo invited women, especially those pregnant, lactating and those planning to have a family, to join the events to increase their awareness on the importance of breastfeeding.
“Primarily, breastfeeding should be included in the birth plan,” said Arroyo in a press conference held as part of the activities of the agency for the National Breastfeeding Awareness Month this August pursuant to Republic Act 10028.
She said the current comprehensive national public education and awareness program on breastfeeding focuses on the first 1,000 days of babies – the basic foundation of a child’s growth and development.
The first 1,000 days start from the first day of conception and up to the second birthday of the child. It consists of 270 days of pregnancy, 365 days for the first year, and 365 days for the second year of the child.
Arroyo said DOH promotes exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of the baby and appropriate complementary feeding to babies starting at six months while continuing breastfeeding up to two years and after.
She said breast milk is not only the best but a “super food” for the child.
The promotional initiative in Iloilo entitled “Baby Expo: “The Power of the First 1000 Days” in cooperation with the Iloilo City government will be held today and tomorrow at Robinsons Place Iloilo.
It will feature talks, video presentations, testimony of a mother in support to breastfeeding and contests such as Search for the Star Baby 2017; Mother and Child Expo 2017; Crawling Baby Contest; and Best “Baby and Mom” Zumbini Dance Contest.
In Antique, a “Breastfeeding Congress” will be held on Aug. 24 at Robinsons Place in San Jose town. (With a report from the Philippine Information Agency-Iloilo/PN)
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