In developing countries like the Philippines, thousands of children are born each year with debilitating and disfiguring birth defects such as cleft lips and cleft palates due to various causes. Most who are too poor to afford corrective surgery often live a life ostracized from society, while having to endure health and emotional problems. The Philippine American Group of Educators and Surgeons (PAGES) comes as a blessing for ending the misery and restoring the smile to these children and their families.
Founded in 1990 by Dr. Benjamin Rigor and Mr. Vid Figueras, PAGES is composed of dedicated practitioners and volunteers from the US, Canada and the United Kingdom, and provides free reconstructive surgery to indigent Filipino children who are afflicted not only with cleft lips and cleft palates but also with burn contractures, meningococele and other birth defect conditions. Mr. Figueras said, “We specialize in cases involving kids and young adults because the impact we make in their lives are for a lifetime. We change the child’s life by freeing him from the stigma and giving him confidence.” Inspired by the international program “Operation SMILE”, PAGES’ humanitarian mission was named “Operation HOPE” (Helping Other People Excel). Through “Operation HOPE”, PAGES in partnership with the local government and hospitals, has performed approximately 7,500 free surgical operations on children who belong to the poorest among the poor families in the Philippines, especially in Luzon and Visayas. These children’s lives are now changed forever. They can now attend school, play with other children, participate in sports activities and do other things without being ostracized, teased or ridiculed. Also changed are the lives of their parents who are no longer afraid that their children would come home from school crying, lose self-esteem, or develop an inferiority complex.
Along with its surgical and medical missions, PAGES also conducts a training program known as “Operation EXCEL” where seasoned veteran teachers from distinguished educational institutions in the US, provide lectures to the host hospital’s physicians and nursing staff, medical and nursing students, and other personnel that provide medical care and services to the community. After each mission, all the solicited medical equipment and supplies brought by PAGES are voluntarily donated to various public hospitals and health centers. Among the beneficiaries have been Ospital Ng Maynila, Kawit Kalayaan Hospital, Laguna Provincial Hospital, San Pablo Colleges and Medical Center, Bauan Medicare and Community Hospital, The Legenda Hospital in Subic, Masbate Mining Hospital, Iloilo Mission Hospital, and Andres Soriano Memorial Hospital in Cebu. With this initiative, PAGES has also transformed basic non-existent, non-serviceable operating rooms into well functioning operating rooms. PAGES was also instrumental in building a wide unused open space to what is now a state-of-the-emergency room comparable to US standards at the Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital in Trece Martires City, Cavite. Also, several tertiary hospitals were declared secondary hospitals because of PAGES’ involvement in their continued upgrading.
Since 1998, PAGES in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, has also conducted gift giving programs called “Operation GRACE” to indigent families who can barely afford three square meals a day. In November 2004, upon learning of the landslide calamity that affected the town of Infanta, Quezon, PAGES immediately remitted funds and directed local PAGES team members in Manila to deliver truckloads of food and clothing which provided temporary relief to the affected community.
In conferring the Banaag Award to Philippine American Group of Educators and Surgeons, the President recognizes its dedication and generosity in performing free reconstructive surgery on thousands of indigent Filipino children, and providing medical services and related training for the benefit of underserved communities in the Philippines.
