Olongapo Vows to Help Victims of Leukemia
Published in The Philippine Daily Inquirer
(February 20, 2000)
OLONGAPO CITY -- The city govemment promised to extend full assistance to the victims of leukemia in this city.
"We will try to help them in whatever way we can," Dr. Arturo Mendoza, chief of the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital, said.
The pledge came a day after one Olongapo resident, a young man who is struggling to keep his brother alive, alerted the INQUIRER on the, city's startlingly high number of leukemia cases.
Ronnie Geronimo said he believed the ailments were caused by the toxic contamination problem inside the former Subic Naval Base here.
Bewildered why his brother, Rudy, was afflicted with leukemia and surprised by a doctor's reaction that another Olongapo resident was being treated for leukemia, Geronimo made the rounds of hospitals here and in Metro Manila.
A list he obtained from the University of Santo Tomas Hospital in Manila showed that the number of leukemia patients from the city and its neighboring Subic town reached 386 between 1992 and 1996.
Of this figure, 282 were below 18 years old. Most came from Olongapo, Geronimo was told.
The cases had been increasing despite an end to the military activities at the former base, the People's Task Force for Bases Clean Up said.
Mendoza said the number of leukemia cases at the city hospital were not significant until 1998 when bone marrow tests became ivailable.
From February 1998 to 1999, the city recorded eight leukemia victims, mostly children. Six were from the city and two from Subic town.
From 1996 to 1998, the city referred 15 patients to Metro Manila hospitals for bone marrow tests, Mendoza said.
Saying treatment for leukemia is costly,and the victims are vulnerable to various complications, Mendoza said help could come through hospital confinement and bone marrow tests.
The city government solely funds the tertiary hospital at P40 million a year on local taxes, he explained. The hospital also assists patients from Zambales and Bataan.
Mendoza said the city hospital would also try to seek help from the national government in establishing the link between the cancer and the toxic contamination problem.
"We will be watching it (the link between leukemia and toxic waste) and correlate it because we are concerned," he said.
He said he would get the list of Olongapo residents who sought treatment for leukemia in other hospitals.
The PTFBC called attention to the contaminants that could have possibly reached the villages. These are mercury and several 'toxic' pollutants at the Subic Bay.
During high tide, water at the bay reaches the Sta. Rita River which cuts through several villages outside the former base.
The leukemia causing benzene found in one well at the public works center inside the former naval base could be another potential cause.
The communication radar set by the United States Navy atop Mt. Sta. Rita could have also caused radiation. But documents from the US Navy showed that no complaints arose from the radar's operation.
Tonette Orejas
PDI Central Luzon Desk
