CLARK FREEPORT – Philanthropists converged at the Clark Polytechnic School here last Sunday to hand out free artificial legs and wheelchairs to the poor.
As 30 wheelchairs and five artificial legs were distributed by officers of the Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF), Filipino-American doctors from the Physicians for Peace (PFP) announced plans to launch this year a “floating medical clinic” to be dispatched to the poorest islands in the country.
This, even as descendants of philanthropist Jesus Vicente Datu, a native of lahar-ravaged Bacolor, Pampanga said that a P20-million hospital inaugurated last Friday in Bacolor would soon be fully operational. The hospital will primarily be for the poor, initially targeting those needing cataract patients.
Benigno Ricafort, chairman of the KDF and president of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), said hundreds of wheelchairs and artificial legs had already been distributed for free in various parts of Pampanga under his foundation’s “Walking Free Pampanga” project.
Last Sunday’s distribution activity was also timed with the blessing of the new prosthesis and training center at the polytechnic school here.
Pampanga 1st district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin donated an “oven” for the manufacture of artificial legs at the center.
Sylvia Ordonez, executive director of the Center for Asia Pacific Women which has been supporting the “walking free” project, said the new P20-million hospital donated by Datu in Bacolor will be run by the donor’s relatives in the Philippines. She said the hospital is already equipped with modern equipment.
“We expect the support of politicians and non-government organizations to start and maintain the hospital’s operations, especially because it’s supposed to be for the poor,” she said.
Almost the entire town of Bacolor was buried by Mt. Pinatubo ’s lahar flows in the 1990’s and the hospital donated by Datu would be the first hospital to rise since the town’s burial.
This, even as Dr. Juan Montero of the PFP-Philippines told Punto that he has already negotiated with donors, including three “taipans” in the country, for the construction of a water vessel to serve as a floating clinic that can reach various islands in the Philippines.
“I think I can announce we can have it by the end of this year. Negotiations have already been made with a shipbuilder in Dapitan (Mindanao) for the construction of a catamaran-type of vessel that can penetrate shallow waters so we can reach remote barangays which has rivers,” said Montero who is based in Virginia in the US.
The PFP was founded in the US and its Philippine chapter was established in 1998. “We now have an eyeglass bank in Surigao del Sur where I come from and an eye bank in Cebu,” he said.
Montero said his group will continue to support the “walking free” project here, as he noted that an artificial leg to be fitted below the knee could cost P80,000 each, while legs above the knee could cost P125,000.
Apart from the PFP, the walking free project of the KDF is also supported by the Rotary Club District 3790, the Clark Development Corp., Quota International, Kingitsbridge International, local government units, and national government agencies.
As 30 wheelchairs and five artificial legs were distributed by officers of the Kapampangan Development Foundation (KDF), Filipino-American doctors from the Physicians for Peace (PFP) announced plans to launch this year a “floating medical clinic” to be dispatched to the poorest islands in the country.
This, even as descendants of philanthropist Jesus Vicente Datu, a native of lahar-ravaged Bacolor, Pampanga said that a P20-million hospital inaugurated last Friday in Bacolor would soon be fully operational. The hospital will primarily be for the poor, initially targeting those needing cataract patients.
Benigno Ricafort, chairman of the KDF and president of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), said hundreds of wheelchairs and artificial legs had already been distributed for free in various parts of Pampanga under his foundation’s “Walking Free Pampanga” project.
Last Sunday’s distribution activity was also timed with the blessing of the new prosthesis and training center at the polytechnic school here.
Pampanga 1st district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin donated an “oven” for the manufacture of artificial legs at the center.
Sylvia Ordonez, executive director of the Center for Asia Pacific Women which has been supporting the “walking free” project, said the new P20-million hospital donated by Datu in Bacolor will be run by the donor’s relatives in the Philippines. She said the hospital is already equipped with modern equipment.
“We expect the support of politicians and non-government organizations to start and maintain the hospital’s operations, especially because it’s supposed to be for the poor,” she said.
Almost the entire town of Bacolor was buried by Mt. Pinatubo ’s lahar flows in the 1990’s and the hospital donated by Datu would be the first hospital to rise since the town’s burial.
This, even as Dr. Juan Montero of the PFP-Philippines told Punto that he has already negotiated with donors, including three “taipans” in the country, for the construction of a water vessel to serve as a floating clinic that can reach various islands in the Philippines.
“I think I can announce we can have it by the end of this year. Negotiations have already been made with a shipbuilder in Dapitan (Mindanao) for the construction of a catamaran-type of vessel that can penetrate shallow waters so we can reach remote barangays which has rivers,” said Montero who is based in Virginia in the US.
The PFP was founded in the US and its Philippine chapter was established in 1998. “We now have an eyeglass bank in Surigao del Sur where I come from and an eye bank in Cebu,” he said.
Montero said his group will continue to support the “walking free” project here, as he noted that an artificial leg to be fitted below the knee could cost P80,000 each, while legs above the knee could cost P125,000.
Apart from the PFP, the walking free project of the KDF is also supported by the Rotary Club District 3790, the Clark Development Corp., Quota International, Kingitsbridge International, local government units, and national government agencies.
