Amor Valiente-Cook, former OB Nurse, dies at 69
JULY 30, 2004: When Amor tagged along with a friend who was going to apply with OB, she had no intention of going to Laos. While filling up the application form, the friend said that since Amor, a nurse, was already in the OB office, why didn¹t she go ahead and fill up an application too.
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California Mekong member dies
SEPT. 1, 2003: Among the first Filipinos to arrive in Laos who stayed the longest there, Celso Orense died Aug. 18, 2003 at the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Sunset, Calif. He was 79.
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New envoy vows to boost ties between RP and Laos
JUNE 30, 2003: This feature appeared in The Philippine Star, a Manila-based daily newspaper. In early June, Raul Dejesus, former OB Vientiane doctor, during a vacation trip to Manila, led a delegation of Mekong Circle Philippine-based members, for a courtesy call on Chua and to update him on our activities in Laos. Ambassador Chua is expected to take his post in Vientiane next month.
[This feature is temporarily offline]
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Former OB agriculturist assists immigrant farmers in Hawaii
JUNE 24, 2003: When the University of Hawaii started a program to help train immigrant farmers in the proper use of pesticides and other chemicals, the school enlisted the help of Sabina Swift, a former agriculturist with Operation Brotherhood.
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Ambassador Mario Galman, 56, Inspired Balik-Laos Journey
APRIL 24, 2003: The Philippine Ambassador to Laos died April 11, 2003 in a Florida hospital from a cerebral hemorrhage, his uncle Dr. Pedro Gonzales, a former Operation Brotherhood physician, said.
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Where Have All Our Nurses Gone?
APRIL 11, 2003: Two and a half years after the first team of Filipino OB doctors and nurses started seeing patients in 1957 in an open air clinic near the grounds of the That Luang shrine in Vientiane, a brand-new hospital was dedicated on June 1960 a few minutes walk away. It had 60 beds and various diagnostic services as well as a dispensary. But it sorely lacked skilled Lao help to assist bedside nursing, run lab tests, prepare X-ray readings, help in the dental, pharmacy, outpatient and dietary sections.
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Operation Brotherhood photographer Lapitan dies at 87
FEB. 19, 2003: Sergio Lapitan passed away, Feb. 19, 2003 at 2:50 in the morning, his wife Sounthaly said. He was 87 years old.
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OB Accountant Salvator "Sas" Sayong dies in New Jersey
JAN. 10, 2003: Alita Sayong regrets to announce that her husband Sas passed away at 3:30 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 9, at the Robert Woods Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J.
He suffered a brain stroke before Christmas. He was 70 years old and served in Laos as an Operation Brotherhood accountant from 1960 to 1962.
Sas was an energetic member of the August 2002 Mekong Circle reunion in New York City. He and Alita were very gracious hosts (three times) at their residence in New Jersey for the reunion committee's monthly meetings. He had plans to pitch camping tents on his spacious, rolling backyard for Mekong Circle attendees who could not find hotel rooms during the reunion.
At the San Francisco reunion in 2000, he took it upon himself to offer New York as the next site. He was grandly rewarded by winning two prizes at the dinner party cruise aboard the Paddle Wheel Queen -- one for the most grandchildren (4) in attendance, and the other, for the most family members (7) in attendance. They, and we, will deeply miss him.
Letters and cards can be sent to
24 Lonczak Lane, East Brunswick, New Jersey 08816
Tel. 732 432 0964
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Search for doctor
SEPT. 5, 2002: I recently posted a message on a newsgroup website devoted to Laotians "chatting" (www.soc.culture.laos). I got this reply. If we can get the OB doctor and the Lao connected, it would be quite a story. If you are the OB doctor referred to, please contact the Webmaster or Pete Fuentecilla.
Original posting:
Between 1957 and 1975, a group of doctors, nurses, engineers and other technicians from the Philippines worked as volunteers in Laos. They operated hospitals, clinics, schools in Vientiane, Sayaboury, Attopeu,Vang Vieng, Paksong, Kengkok and many other places. We are writing a book about their experience. Do your or your parents remember anyone of these OB Filipinos. If so, we wish to include your story in this book. Thank you for your cooperation and help.
--Pete
The response:
From: "Hawj Lauj" <hawjlauj@hotmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 11:39 AM
To: fuentecila@aol.com
Subject: Re: Operation Brotherhood (OB)
Wow, your message made my hair stand on edge. My life was saved by a young Filipino doctor in Vang Vieng around 1973-4.
He gave me blood transfusion, totally free, when only my poor, under-nourished mother (out of the whole family) was of my particular blood type; but she was nursing my baby sister, too, so that young Filipino doctor tested his blood and, viola, his and mine were the same.
My mother told me how she could see my little, dying body, gaunt-looking face starting to show life immediately when that Filipino's blood started entering my system.
I may never get to know that young Filipino doctor in that little no-where, Vang Vieng town (where my father brought me down as a dying 5 year-old from the mountains over-looking Kasi), but I shall always be tied to him for as long as I live.
I'm truly ETERNALLY in debt to him.
If you could find out more about that Filipino doctor in the hospital in Vang Vieng (Laos) around 1972-4, I'll like to contact him and thank him for
giving me life, literally.
Sincerely,
Her Lao
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Search for members
AUG. 19, 2002: I am trying to locate a couple (Clarence and Mimi). Clarence used to work as a military/army man in USAID. I am also looking for Fe Parica, Jun and Chit Ventura, Jimmy and Boots Hidalgo, Pete and Naty Encarnacion, Lucy Landrito, Lily Valentin, Rodrigo and Lydia Reyes, the Suyat Family -- all from USAID. Thanking you in advance for your kind assistance.
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Bonifacio Gillego dies at 81
AUG. 18, 2002: Boni, former OB executive director from 1962 and 1968, passed away following a stroke at the Kidney Institute in Quezon City on August 1, 2002. During his time in Vientiane, he was known as a voracious reader, finishing off a couple of books overnight, while still finding time to dispense fatherly advice. He had been undergoing kidney dialysis for three years in Arizona, New York as well as in the Philippines.
Returning to Manila in 1969, he won a seat in the Constitutional Convention drafting a new constitution. Alarmed by what he viewed as the increasing militarization of the government under President Marcos, he became an eloquent speaker and writer about "the misuse and abuse" of military funds to compile dossiers on Marcos critics. As a retired (in 1967) army
intelligence officer, he was highly regarded as a credible observer.
Consequently when martial law was declared in 1972, he was in a dragnet list that rounded up legislators, journalists, activists and other Marcos political enemies. Warned in time, he fled to his home province of Sorsogon. He was on the run for six years in the Bicol region. During that period, the government accused him of joining the communist New People's Army. The Ministry of National Defense's Intelligence Service dossier said: "subject has written a number of exposes detrimental to national security." His retirement pension was also suspended because "it would be inconsistent for the govenrment to continue supporting an individual who is working for its overthrow."
Escaping to Sabah province in Brunei by "kumpit", a motorized canoe, he contacted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees which requested a U.S. visa for him from the American Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "I boarded a Singapore Airlines flight to Washington, D.C., dressed in a T-shirt," he said.
In the US, he joined in 1974 the Movement For A Free Philiippines, founded by Senator Raul Manglapus, himself an exile and branded, like Boni, as a "subversive" under arrest orders if they return home. Boni continued his media exposes of martial law's excesses, notably the fake war hero medals allegedly awarded by the U.S. army to Marcos for his anti-Japanese wartime activities. Angered, Marcos urged President Reagan, a pro-martial law advocate for the sake of the American bases, to harass his critics based in the US. The FBI interrogated Manglapus and Boni several times.
Returning to the Philippines in 1986 after President Cory Aquino took office, Boni was elected to the House of Representatives for two terms representing the Second District of Sorsogon. He served as chairman of the Committee on Civil, Political and Human Rights Committees. He was also the vice-chairman of the Committees on Public Order and Security, Ways & Means and Veterans Affairs.
Boni earned his degrees in English and Philosophy at the Far Eastern University in Manila in 1950 and was an an Armed Forces of the Philippines Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Baltimore, Maryland.
Born on June 9, 1921 in Bulan, Sorsogon, he is survived by his wife Dolores Perez with whom he has seven children.
