Press Release
December 12, 2012

KOKO: HEALTHY CHILDREN VITAL TO NATION'S DEVELOPMENT

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, PDP Laban President, today urged the government to give priority to ensuring the health of children as part of its development thrust.

"The health of our children is vital to the nation's development. We cannot attain national development if the children of today are debilitated by illnesses that would impair their becoming effective leaders and constructive builders of our nation's tomorrow," Pimentel said in his remarks at the awarding ceremonies of Mu Sigma Phi Sorority's "Gawad Panitiking Pangkalusugan" project.

The project is a nationwide children's storybook writing competition with the theme, "Luksong Tinik: Kwentong Kaligtasan Para sa Kabataan".

It aims to encourage children aged 5 to 10 years old to write about the need for them to be aware of how they may go about their young years in safety inside and outside their homes.

The project also seeks to encourage children to understand the importance of healthy activities and the relevance of health literacy to their lives now and in their later years.

Pimentel revealed that as a senator, he is besieged every day by people in need of medical care but who are unable to shoulder its costs.

He expressed the hope that the sorority project "will go a long way to help alleviate the plight especially of the marginalized sector of our society."

"If the children of today would begin to apply the ways of healthful living that your present project tries to inculcate upon them, there is no question that their tomorrow would be less filled with sorrow as they would in all likelihood grow up as adults as healthy as can be, knowing that many diseases even of the life-threatening kind afflicting especially the poor are preventable by observing basic cleanliness and healthful habits," Pimentel pointed out.

The senator from Mindanao urged that the government's medical care should include what is preventive and not only what is curative.

Pimentel commended the Mu Sigma Phi Sorority for its efforts in the delivery of health services and education in health matters to children, adding that other medical groups should replicate what the sorority is doing to extend medical care to those in need of it.

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