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Is it ok to include infant milk formula in your relief packs?

The issue sparked a debate in Twitterworld a few days ago after the Department of Health refused to accept infant formula donations from pharmaceutical companies. The law actually prohibits any government agency from promoting milk substitutes for infants, thus it cannot accept the donation.

In light of the Ondoy disaster, some relief aid groups feel that this is inappropriate. Even though that I see myself as a breastfeeding advocate (yeah, raise your eyebrows, but I am a breastfeeding advocate), I can understand where this frustration is coming from.

So what I did was ask for clarifications. Iona Jalijali, one of our legislative staffers and a breastfeeding supermom, explained that in disaster-stricken areas where clean water is inaccessible, infant formula increases the risk of exposure to diseases. Only when there are very young babies (6 months and less) and there are no sources of breastmilk or breastfeeding mothers should infant formula be used as the last resort PROVIDED that the distributed infant formula is accompanied by clean water and other supplies for safe preparation (clean bottles, etc.)

The ideal scenario is to make it easy for mothers in evacuation centers to breastfeed their children. A room may be designated for nursing mothers, and their own babies should be prioritized. If possible, after feeding their babies, they can wetnurse for other babies or express their breastmilk for other infants.

Infant formula is perhaps the most convenient way to feed infants in evacuation sites or disaster-stricken communities. But I agree with breastfeeding advocates: it is certainly not the safest.

Today, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, a Baptist Pastor-turned-legislator, pious and close to God, delivered a speech to declare that the Ondoy tragedy is an Act of God.

I would not debate on the issue of God and disasters. I won’t even go into this ‘holier-than-thou’ stance and claims that our so-called wicked ways led to this divine punishment. What I do know is that storms are getting deadlier because of climate change, a phenomenon caused by humans, by our lifestyle. From what I see, too,  garbage – plastics, in particular – clogged the Metro’s drainage, waterways, & creeks, and thus aggravating this problem.

But I will tell you more about Rep. Abante. Talk to him and you’d get the sense that he  seriously believes that he’s the voice of God, to the point that he treats his flatulence as a wisp of the Holy Ghost. He can silence you (Oh, that he did to several LGBT activists in a hearing of the House human rights committee), and he struts as if the post-deluge sun shines from his bottom.  His breath smells of incense.

Rep. Abante used to be the Chair of Congress’ Human Rights Committee. He blocked the passage of an anti-discrimination bill that protects the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. He’s also rabidly against the Reproductive Health Bill. As the current chair of the Committee on Information in Congress, he  also championed a pro-censorship measure, the Right of Reply Bill.

For all his piety, he was put in the Hall of Shame of Human Rights Watch, a prestigious international human rights NGO based in New York.

But look – Rep. Abante may be close to God, but he’s no Noah. So when the floodwater was rising in Manila, when hundreds of families in his district were scampering to find floating devices, a Philippine Coast Guard rubber boat was reportedly deployed to fetch Rep. Abante’s son and his barkada in Philippine Columbian Sports Club in Paco, Manila.

That must be the so-called ‘Act of God’ that Rep. Abante is talking about, the one he’s really familiar with – when public officials play god, and use their power to push for their own interests over the survival of the people.