Mga Bata Sa Negros [Freddie Aguilar/lyrics]

GOLDEN AGE PO BA ANG BANSANG PILIPINAS SA PANAHON NA ITO!

SUGAR-CHOKED ISLAND STARVING
By Joseph A. Reaves and Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune • November 24, 1985

BACOLOD, THE PHILIPPINES — The crowded malnutrition ward at Monteliban Hospital is where the lucky victims of government corruption, private greed and general apathy come to live or die.

''One of the great tragedies here is that people have become so accustomed to hunger that they don`t understand when a child is really sick,'' says Dr. Lourdes Espina, head of the hospital`s pediatrics wing.

At Monteliban Hospital, 641 children died in the first six months of this year. Only 93 of those deaths were attributed directly to ''malnutrition.''

Medical records supervisor Melecio C. Plaza says most of the other deaths were caused by complications from simple childhood diseases in malnourished patients.

Health officials and relief workers emphasize that the Monteliban death toll only hints at the extent of the problem in Negros. Nearly a dozen other hospitals and private clinics are treating starving children across the island. And there probably are thousands of children whose deaths never are reported.

The children of Negros are starving because the government refused to do anything about a problem that became obvious more than a decade ago.

Negros is the Philippines` sugar cane capital. Nearly 60 percent of the country`s cane comes from this fish-shaped island and more cultivated land is turned over to producing sugar cane than all other crops combined.

Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-11-24-8503210570-story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/09/21/poverty-on-negros-island-breeding-filipino-rebels/2ebf1306-3422-4945-b439-18a7952fc055/

https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/negros-famine-of-the-1980s-a00289-20210415-lfrm2

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-02-mn-1984-story.html

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1902126/dumaguete/local-news/negros-orientals-malnutrition-rate-slightly-down-amid-pandemic

UCAN SPECIAL REPORT: WHAT´S BEHIND THE NEGROS FAMINE CRISIS. Updated: September 10, 1985 05:00 PM GMT
(Union of Catholic Asian News (UCANEWS)
https://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/1985/09/11/ucan-special-report-whats-behind-the-negros-famine-crisis&post_id=33345