A young couple received an unexpected gift from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office as they lined up at the Nueva Ecija High School gym to receive their free medicines from the PCSO’s medical and dental mission there.
Aries and Shilet Cabildo were with their one-year-old son Usher, who is suffering from tetralogy of fallot, a congenital heart disorder, when they caught the eye of PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan, who was supervising the agency’s medical personnel.
Balutan called the couple’s attention, and they didn’t hesitate to tell the former battle-hardened Marine general nicknamed “Mandirigma” (Warrior) about their child’s impending heart surgery.
“I hope we have more years with Usher,” Aries pleaded with Balutan.
To which Balutan gladly replied, “We are still warriors, but we no longer fight in Mindanao, we are fighting for charity now.”
“So, we will try to do everything possible to help your baby. We will maximize our financial assistance for his surgery up to his recovery,” he told the Cabildos.
The couple was overjoyed and couldn’t thank Balutan enough for the unexpected blessings.
“Thank you very much, we are very grateful to GM Balutan because he paid attention to us when we came and talked with him. He brought us to the PCSO staff and told them to take care of our request for aid to help our baby Usher,” said Aries.
“We did not think that Sir Balutan’s heart is soft, even with the toughness of his stance. Just his hearing our request is a big deal to us. Thanks to PCSO,” Shilet said, trying to hold back tears.
PCSO Medical Services Department manager Dr. Jose Bernardo Gochoco said that the agency usually gives P100,000 worth of financial assistance maximum to a patient with a heart case, but that would still vary on the case rate and patient’s classification.
“That is the real objective of the PCSO’s medical missions,” Gochoco said. “We want to find patients who the agency can assist for their health, more than just one-day medical services and one-time free medicines.”
The charity mission also bannered the “PCSO Partner Tayo” joint outreach program with the Nueva Ecija High School Class ‘77 Alumni Association Inc.
It aims to provide free health care, medical consultation, dental extraction, eye examination, circumcision and medicines to Cabanatuan City residents.
The activity resulted in 254 medical and 15 dental consultations.
PCSO conducts regular medical and dental missions in depressed communities within and outside of Metro Manila and nearby provinces including provision of free medicines for those who have less or no access to health services offered by the local government.
