Dancing to fight cervical cancer
One of the short-listed nominees to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by Maria Lourdes Sereno when she ascended to the post of Chief Justice is Justice Noel Tijam of the Court of Appeals.
This paper virtually “endorsed” Tijam when it noted in an editorial that Tijam had a “clean” reputation. But a couple—Dr. Florence and retired Judge Alfredo Tadiar—are raising a howl over the possible appointment of Tijam. They cite the decision made by Tijam in a case filed by their daughter Thea against the airline Lufthansa in 1999, when her luggage failed to arrive with her from London.
Acting as Thea’s lawyer, Alfredo Tadiar first won a motion from Tijam when he asked that the airline be declared in default “due to its failure to file a pretrial brief and for nonappearance, together with its counsel, for pretrial.” But Tijam changed his tune when he later granted Lufthansa’s motion to dismiss, with the added flourish of “saying petulantly or in capricious ill humor,” says Tadiar, that he was granting the motion “to teach a lesson to petitioner’s counsel for being overzealous and give him a dose of his own medicine.”
Fortunately for the Tadiars, Tijam’s decision was reversed by the Court of Appeals, and seven years after the case was first filed, the Supreme Court granted Thea relief.
Of course, when a lawyer or judge comes up for appointment to the Supreme Court, all parties who lost cases or opposed him or her are free to come out and pose objections. But in a letter to the Judicial and Bar Council, Tadiar says that, judging from his experience with Tijam, he has reached the conclusion that “Judge Tijam decides a case on the basis of affective emotion and does not render a cold judgment on a cognitive basis.”
Tadiar adds that as a justice of the Court of Appeals, Tijam rendered a decision in 2008 acquitting Jose Villarosa, along with several others, for the killing of the sons of his political rival, Ricardo Quintos. This case is far from over, undergoing review by the Supreme Court, and embroiling one sitting justice and a retired justice in ethical complications after they stood as godfathers at the wedding of Villarosa’s daughter.
* * *
Imagine more than a thousand (1,146 to be exact) obstetricians-gynecologists from all over the country dancing to hip-hop tunes in an effort to raise funds for and awareness of cervical cancer treatment. Imagine, too, actors such as Anne Curtis and surprise guest Richard Yap, better known by his onscreen names “Papa Chen” and “Sir Chief,” joining them by singing and, yes, dancing, to the delight of the gyrating ob-gyns.
This took place in “Beat It,” held last Nov. 8 at the PICC Reception Hall, an effort to raise awareness of this deadly disease by “having the men and women who take care of Filipino women take the first step toward cervical cancer prevention.” As planned, for every ob-gyn who would take part in the group dance, one woman “who otherwise cannot afford the cervical cancer vaccine will receive a dose for free.” The doctors-organizers said they also aimed to merit inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest gathering of doctors dancing for cervical cancer awareness.
“It all started as a dare,” writes Dr. Julieta “Jayjay” Germar, president of the Philippine arm of the Asia Oceania Research Organisation on Genital Infections and Neoplasia (AOGIN). Along with Society of Gynecologic Oncologists of the Philippines (SGOP) members Dr. Maris Mercado and Dr. Lora Tupas, they thought of “doing something” for cervical cancer awareness that would grab the attention of ob-gyns and “more importantly, help women.”
Thus was born the idea of the dance for cervical cancer awareness during the annual national convention of the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS). It was presented to and enthusiastically endorsed by POGS president Dr. Rey delos Reyes, and vice president Dr. Raul Quillamor, and organized by Dr. Gil Gonzales of SGOP, Dr. Christine Palma of the Philippine Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (PSCPC) and Germar of AOGIN.
* * *
At the same time, the doctors “challenged GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to donate an HPV vaccine for every ob-gyn who danced for cervical cancer awareness.” GSK vice-president Neogin Evangelista agreed.
Writes Germar: “As obstetrician-gynecologists, gynecologic oncologists and cervical cancer advocates, we see every day how cervical cancer burdens and claims the lives of Filipino women. It’s about time we started with our own societies in our efforts for cervical cancer prevention.”
What makes the event doubly memorable and meaningful for Dr. Germar was that planning for the record-breaking dance started only in August, although “the support we got was overwhelming.”
Even retired doctors, some of them mentors of the groups’ leaders, joined the dancing, along with ob-gyns from almost all regions of the country.
“Anne Curtis is an endorser of the HPV Vaccine of GSK,” Germar explains, but the involvement of Richard Yap is another story altogether. “I just wrote him through my patient and immediately he said yes and came with no talent fee. No requests. Super bait.”
“I really feel it is a small step but in terms of cervical cancer awareness and the fact that we got GSK to donate an HPV vaccine for every ob-gyn who danced, it was [already] a big step,” says Germar.
Now, more than 1,000 young women (and girls) will get lifetime protection from the cancer-causing HPV, all thanks to dancing doctors and their commitment to stop cervical cancer in its tracks.
