Manila Mass Circumcision 'Party' Promotes Procedure

MANILA, Philippines — Hundreds of boys in a Philippine city turned out Saturday for a daylong "circumcision party" to provide a safe, free procedure for a rite of passage that most local males undergo as preteens.

Some boys cried in their mothers' arms while others bit their shirts to stifle sobs as doctors carried out the surgery on dozens of makeshift operating tables inside a sports stadium in Marikina city east of Manila. Outside, other boys lined up to await their turn.

"I'm a big boy now," one boy who had just finished the surgery bragged.

Officials said the event – touted in a press statement as a "circumcision party" – aims to promote safe circumcision and to offer to poor residents free surgery that would otherwise cost at least $40 in private hospitals.

As of mid-afternoon, nearly 1,500 boys aged 9 years and up had been circumcised while many were still waiting in line, city health officer Dr. Alberto Herrera said.

In the Philippines, preadolescent and adolescent boys traditionally are circumcised during summer school break from March to May. In rural areas, the surgery is sometimes performed by non-doctors using crude methods.

The city also hopes to establish a world record for the number of people attending a mass circumcision.

"We applied for the Guinness Book of World Records and we are recording everything so we can send all the data to them and hopefully it will be recognized," Vice Mayor Jose Fabian Cadiz said.

Marikina, the country's shoemaking capital, was recognized by Guinness in 2002 for creating what was then the world's biggest pair of shoes.

Comments

[TheJMont]

11:20 PM on 05/11/2011

wow! shockingly horrifying. Sick that the community mayor wants this as a world record. I feel so sad that boys in the Philippines have to suffer through this as a tradition... and at an age that they will remember what happened to them.

[maskeddata]

11:24 PM on 05/08/2011

Nice party. Children are being forcibly mutilated - for free.

[Shirley Fisk]

12:34 PM on 05/08/2011

5/8/11
12:34pm
Washington, DC

Ouch!!! Hurts to think about it and I don't even have one.

[Trismegistus22]

09:34 AM on 05/08/2011

Disgusting!!!

[waynesmyer]

05:47 AM on 05/08/2011

But! Just think positively! Now they can vote in Arizona elections!

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

10:35 PM on 05/07/2011

Hey Docs, don't forget to leave a wattle.

[scotwllm]

10:25 PM on 05/07/2011

This is unbelievable. They're putting the lives of young boys at risk just to get into The Guinness Book of World Records? Srsly?

I just wrote to the Guinness organization urging them to reject this application. You can too. Go to the "Contact Us" page on their website (http://corporate.guinnessworldrecords.com/contact_us.aspx) and tell them what you think about this. I don't think endangering people's lives is a category they should condone or recognize.

[Hugh7]

06:37 PM on 05/08/2011

Thank you, I wrote:
The Guinness Book of Records should REJECT the record claim for mass circumcisions being attempted in the Philippines. Circumcison is a surgical procedure that requires due care, not haste. When carried out on non-consenting people it is also a human rights violation.
http://www.circumstitins.com/Complic.html
http://www.circumstitins.com/death.html
http://www.circumstitins.com/Ethics.html
http://www.circumstitins.com/Rights.html

[Hugh7]

06:58 PM on 05/08/2011

Whoops.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Complic.html
http://www.circumstitions.com/death.html
http://www.circumstitions.com/Ethics.html
http://www.circumstitions.com/Rights.html

[Tom Scruggs]

04:58 PM on 05/14/2011

I wrote to Guiness.

What a horrible event. And parents, if you are expecting a male child, please research circumcision for yourself. The links Hugh7 provided in his "Whoops" comment are a great place to start. The fact that there are, on average, 117 deaths from circumcision in the US every year and that it is considered a completely unnecessary operation. The main purpose for circumcision is to put an extra $40 in the doctor's pocket. That's it.

[Being Mindful]

04:18 PM on 05/07/2011

This is a crime against the genital integrity of these boys, not a cause for celebration! This is like the mass female genital mutilations in African cultures. When will we stop this assault on the genitals of innocent children - including the mass circumcisions of American boys by the medical profession, a very lucrative industry.

[kingshmoopy]

08:48 PM on 05/08/2011

Well stated and spot on.

[bobcat99]

03:52 PM on 05/07/2011

Dear God! This is a reason to celebrate? How about trying to educate these poor folks about what an unnecessary horror this is. Poor children. And they can remember every moment. I could not have been the reporter in this instance.

[Smirk]

02:27 PM on 05/07/2011

IF it's going to be done, it should be done privately in a sterile environment and by someone with proper equipment and proper medical training who can also proscribe antibiotics and pain medication. I feel for anyone undergoing such a procedure, especially anyone old enough to recall every detail vividly.

[ramp613]

10:34 AM on 05/09/2011

IF it's going to be done, it should be done on a CONSENTING ADULT. Genital modification forced upon minor children is a human rights violation.

[Taylor Epithet Gideon]

02:07 PM on 05/07/2011

Ok- I was alright with believing my Royal Wedding invite got lost in the mail, but I'm beginning to think I'm being intentionally slighted at this point.

[Smirk]

02:28 PM on 05/07/2011

Maybe your name got snipped off the list by accident.

[KennebunkportIndependent]

02:01 PM on 05/07/2011

It is all a vestige of the US medics during/after WWII.  .  Just as in South Korea which has the highest rate of non-religious IRC.  The sheople follow. 

[Being Mindful]

04:13 PM on 05/07/2011

Unfortunately, I believe this ritual comes from cultural practices in Philippines, according to a talk I heard at an International Conference on Circumcision Prevention. The native described a different method than US butchery, whereby the foreskin is slit along the top of the head, and then flayed open, not cut off. This leaves a flap of skin hanging from the underside of the penis, a very uncomfortable and awkward mutilation.

This barbarism celebrated as a "party" is horrible, but so is the most commonly performed surgery in the US - medically unjustified, therefore sexual abuse of infant boys.

[KennebunkportIndependent]

04:32 PM on 05/07/2011

Eww...too much information!  But thanks anyway.  I believe my comment DOES pertain to South Korea, though.

It is a barbaric practice.

[Hugh7]

06:28 PM on 05/08/2011

Circumcision of non-consenting people is an imposition. It was introduced to the Philippines hundreds of years ago by Muslims. It is contrary to Catholic teaching (Catechism Item 2297: Respect for bodily integrity) but the Church turns a blind eye. Most men in the world are supòt (intact) - and very happy to be so.

[Dan Kreutzer]

01:25 PM on 05/07/2011

and the material for all those shoes?

[Shirley Fisk]

12:35 PM on 05/08/2011

Shut up

[lifepanels]

01:24 PM on 05/07/2011

"We applied for the Guinness Book of World Records..." HUH?

This is a contest? About the mass mutilation of human beings? Unbelievable! To me, it's a human rights violation.