We often see him on television as a staunch antismoking advocate. He sounds like a robot when he speaks. He has an artificial larynx or voice box, and he has to use a battery-operated device placed under his jaw to be able to speak. Hence, he is frequently referred to as “the antismoking champion with a vibrator.”
Engineer Emerito Rojas used to be a heavy smoker until he was diagnosed to have laryngeal (throat) cancer 13 years ago. To prevent the cancer from spreading, doctors had to perform a radical surgery, removing his entire voice box; hence, he lost his natural voice. But this did not deter him from making sure his voice is heard in detesting the harmful expects of cigarette smoking, so others may not suffer the same or a similar consequence he had to endure.
Engineer Rojas was one of the major awardees during the 2nd Healthy Lifestyle Awards night organized by the medical advisory board and editorial staff of H&L (Health and Lifestyle) magazine last week at the One Esplanade in SM Mall of Asia Complex.
As the founding president of New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP)—a nonprofit, nongovernment advocacy group composed mainly of cancer survivors—engineer Rojas and his fellow NVAP advocates consistently make their courageous stand on various health issues, particularly in their fight against smoking. The NVAP is part of the alliance of organizations which had steadfastly fought for the passage of the Sin Tax Law.
Other major awardees
The other major awardees during the night were Dr. Melecia Velmonte; the Philippine Center for Diabetes Education Foundation (PCDEF) Inc. with its founding president, Dr. Augusto Litonjua; and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute-Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST) with its director, Dr. Mario Capanzana.
The panel of judges, consisting of distinguished members of the magazine’s medical advisory board, has also decided to award plaques of commendation to four others who deserve to be recognized for their health programs and activities. They are the College of Dentistry of the University of the Philippines Manila with Dr. Vic Medina as dean, the Unilab Active Health program, Dr. Teofredo “Ted” Esguerra and Dr. Ida Tiongco.
Instrumental
Dr. Velmonte has been instrumental in the drafting of many instructional guidelines in the prevention of healthcare infections, particularly hospital-acquired infections. She has staunchly pursued the prevention and control of hospital-acquired infections by helping educate hospital and other healthcare personnel with simple hygienic practices that, when strictly practiced, can significantly reduce infections. She has authored a number of published articles on this subject and has also chaired several task forces that drafted guidelines in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance.
Faithfully championing its healthy lifestyle advocacy in a low-key manner and sans fanfare since 1990, PCDEF—spearheaded by its founding president, Dr. Augusto Litonjua—has actively served as a well-recognized authority promoting a healthy lifestyle in the prevention of risk factors that contribute to the development of diabetes mellitus, which is considered one of the major lifestyle diseases.
A nonprofit, nonstock organization, PCDEF has optimized its resources in implementing a three-pronged, cost-effective educational strategy aimed at: 1) educating the public on the prevention and control of diabetes with healthy lifestyle measures; 2) establishing teaching clinics delivering high-quality training courses for health professionals; and 3) improving the quality of life of diabetics as well as their family members, especially the poor.
Food, nutrition info
For more than six decades now, the FNRI-DOST has provided relevant technologies and scientific information on food and nutrition, constantly educating the public on what a healthy diet consists of. Its major accomplishments include the development and commercialization of healthy, nutritional food products; conduct of periodic nationwide nutrition surveys that have also been an important source of data on the prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and other cardiovascular diseases; development of analytical food quality and safety assurance system; strategies and programs to address the malnutrition problem and tools, guidelines and standards to serve the needs of nutrition and nutrition-related workers.
One of its practical and informative ongoing programs is the Pinggang Pinoy, a simple but research-based food guide represented by a plate which visually demonstrating the right proportions of the basic food groups to meet the body’s energy and nutrient requirement on a per-meal basis.
President Aquino encourages us to join him in steadfastly treading the straight path or “daang matuwid” by helping rid the government and private sector of corruption and dishonest practices that erode the stability of the nation. Similarly, a healthy lifestyle is the straight path toward a healthier, happier and longer life. Unhealthy diet, smoking, excessive drinking, lack of exercise, unmanaged stress and other unhealthy practices corrupt our bodily systems and subsequently cause serious disease that could lead to an early death.
The decision to take this straight path does not rest on us alone. We have no one else to blame if we don’t, and later suffer the consequence of our folly.