Moms don’t Always Know What is Best

Maternal or Women’s Care is the 5^th Milennium Development Goals of the United Nations. It aims to lower mortality rate and unwanted preganancies.

According to United nations Develoment Programme, in the Philippines induce abortion is the foruth leading cause of maternal death. Also, out of 3 million pregnancies over half of births occurred at home and one-third of them were assisted by traditional birth attendants (TBAs).

In Barangay Lumangan, survey shows that majority of the respondents in Lumanggan are practicing modern maternal care methods but rarely participate in seminars and forums regarding family planning. On the other hand, there are still few who adhere to the traditional means like “hilot”. Age could be considered as an intervening factor since those who prefer “hilot” are the ones who conceived at the year 1970’s.

During the pregnancy stage, 6 out of 9 respondents had their regular check-up at their health center and nearest hospital while the remaining 3 still believe in “hilot”. This could also be attributed to lack of financial resources and the presence of “hilot” and midwives at their barangay.

The survey also shows that majority of the respondenst which is 6 out of 9 gave birth to their children in their home with the aid of “hilot” and midwives. The remaining 3 gave birth in the hospital.

When it comes to family planning, there have been no case of abortion occurred during their pregnancy and the use of contraceptive is not prevalent. This is due to the fact that 5 out of 9 did not participate in any type of forums or seminars conducted by the government or any volunteer group. The remaining 4 attended the seminar about family planning conducted by volunteer groups of UPV and other institutions.

Women in Lumanggan should participate in the activities by the government intended to widen their knowledge about modern maternal care. This will be beneficial on their part since they will learn new ideas and practices given the right methods and proper supervision. They should not rely solely on traditional birth attendants since there are risks involved before and after pregnancy.

We do not want CHANGE!

Everything seemed to be acting against the rule of nature. The weather and the climate are interchanging and becoming unpredictable. Who says rain could not fall during summer or only snow flakes could fall from the sky? One may think it is “cool” but what one is experiencing now is no longer amusing rather, it is deadly.

Climate change has been an issue so long forgotten. It was only brought to life again, when different catastrophes caused by nature happened. These “natural disasters” devastated the lives of the many, and awaken everybody’s call to save the earth.

The government is allocating large amount of money in order to maintain the natural cycle and the balance of the environment.  Projects regarding renewable energy source, alternative ways of preventing global warming are the top priorities of every country or states. Experiments and researches were conducted in order to cope with the changes the planet undergoes. Artificial ways of making rain, energy savers, and waste minimization were developed to protect man from the negative effects of their own work.

Despite all these efforts, one can say that the earth and its people are still in great danger. The continuous move for a greener planet is being overpowered by the uncontrollably phenomena.

Just like in the Philippines, many provinces have been declared to be in the state of calamity because of El Niňo. This only shows that climate change does not choose the country to be victimized. A third world country will be shown no mercy by this deadly curse created by man.

I f the present situation continues, the planet earth will become a big stadium where only the strong and powerful country survives. The competitions for survival will be stiff and tough. Man will continue to exhaust every means to keep up with every change but will only be disappointed with the realization, that things could have been avoided earlier.

Road to Development

Faster and safer trip to Barangay Indag-an, Cubay and Cagbang is guaranteed thanks to the road construction from Barangay Malagyan to Barangay Tan-agan.

Because of the road construction, traveling will be made easier and faster. It will minimize accidents caused by unstable gravel surface thus promoting safer trips to any barangays found within the Miagao area nearing barangay Mat-Y onwards.

Also, the road construction will help lower health related issues like allergy or asthma attack from the dust covering the streets and from the fatigue of traveling on road that is not concrete. In addition to this, it would be favorable for pregnant women since they can afford to go the nearest hospital anytime without risking the health of their child and their body condition.

In terms of economic growth, road construction could make the barangays more accessible thus promoting trade and improving their local business such as pottery in Barangay Cagbang and Hablon in Barangay Indag-an.

However, there are some loopholes in the planning and implementation of this road construction project by the government.

When it comes to organisation, there is no starting point to where the road construction should start. It seemed that almost each barangays have a part of concrete road but they are not even finished and some were unevenly distributed.

This set-up of road construction could still bring danger to the travelers especially during at night. Since streetlights are not low in number and with the unstable road, accidents are being welcomed.

If this road construction aims to serve and give the people a better and safer road, the implementation of this project should be taken into consideration whether it is effected or just another waste. Strategies on how to make the road concrete should be developed and should not left unevenly constructed. It should not left unfinished.

Despite these problems, the road construction is still a good sign of development and improvement of the barangays in the rural area of Miagao. With proper execution from the government, it will not be long for the whole far flung areas to be part of the modern Miagao.