Tambuling Batangas Publication October 17-23, 2018 Issue | Page 5

OPINYON
October 17-23 , 2018
Museo ng Katipunan: Revisiting the
birth of Philippine Independence
By Jimmyley E. Guzman
IN the heart of the city of San
Juan, lies a museum in a place
called “Pinaglabanan” in honor of
our brave Katipuneros who shed
blood and fought for the freedom
of our motherland.

The Battle that Started it
All
Determined
to
overthrow the country’s Spanish
colonial regime, Supremo Andres
Bonifacio and his troops marched
toward San Juan del Monte on
the night of August 29, 1896,
and by daybreak, they attacked
El
Polvorin
(Ammunition
Depot) and El Deposito de
Aguas (Water Reservoir). Armed
with homemade guns (paltik)
and bolos, the Katipuneros
courageously and fiercely faced
the Spanish forces despite being
outgunned and outnumbered by
the enemy.

According
to
the
National Historical Commission
of the Philippines (NHCP),
though the Battle of San Juan del
Monte crippled the Katipunan’s
forces, their heroism and
fortitude fueled the resolve of
other Filipino patriots in the
surrounding provinces to take up
arms and support the Philippine
Revolution.

Museo ng Katipunan,
Pinaglabanan Memorial Shrine
The five-hectare Pinaglabanan
Memorial Shrine was declared
a National Shrine on August 1,
1973 through Presidential Decree
No. 260. With the initiative of the
Pinaglabanan Commemorative
Commission, created under
Proclamation No. 263 series of
1957 as amended and by virtue
of PD No. 1, it was declared as a
national shrine.

On August 30, 1996,
the centennial of the Battle of
Pinaglabanan, the Museo ng
Rebolusyon was inaugurated.
Ten years after, the Museo ng
Rebolusyon was changed to
Museo ng Katipunan.

On August 27, 2013 the
modernized Museo ng Katipunan
was opened to the public, which
presents a fusion of traditional
and hands on interactive exhibits.
The museum is supervised, and
maintained under the jurisdiction
of the NHCP.

Retelling the Story,
Immortalizing History
The
Museo
ng
Katipunan features the story of
Bonifacio’s secret society, the
Katipunan, and visually narrates
Philippine Revolution through
significant artifacts: reproduction
of archival documents such as
cedulas, oath, and membership
forms used during initiation rites,
and medals worn by Katipunan

Included also are variety
of “anting-anting” or magic
amulets made of metal, paper,
and cloth written with cryptic
Latin prayers and symbols, and
several types of bladed weapons
used by the Katipuneros.

Throughout the museum
galleries are large-scale artworks
created by renowned Filipino
artists.

Central to the exhibition
are the entwined lives of Supremo
Andres Bonifacio and his
lieutenant and confidant, Emilio
Jacinto. An interactive map
traces their beginnings in Tondo.
Their principles are outlined in
the “Kartilya and Dekalogo ng
Katipunan,” while holographic
images and audio recordings of
Bonifacio’s poem, “Pag-ibig sa
Tinubuang Lupa” evince his and
the Katipunan’s love of country.

Portraits
of
other
Katipuneros are also presented in
monochrome pastel drawings.

The
museum
has
also an e-learning room where
students can enjoy learning
through computer games and
quizzes. Likewise, a stereoscopy
room can be seen that features a
stereopticon viewer and late 19th
century photographs.
The
Museo
ng
Katipunan is open from Tuesdays
to Sundays, from 8:00 am to 4:00
pm. Admission is free.
For
booking
of
educational tours, please call at
telephone numbers (02) 576-
4336.
(NHCP/PIA-NCR/JEG/
PIA-NCR)
The Museo ng Katipunan in San Juan and the Pinaglabanan Memorial Shrine
(right). (photos by jeg/pia-ncr)
Immunotherapy: New hope for
Hodgkin lymphoma
AT A cancer-treatment forum
held in Quezon City recently,
hematologist Dr. Daryl Tan,
the Director of Research at the
Raffles Hospital in Singapore,
narrated a bleak tale: a 25-year-
old woman, in the prime of
her life, was losing her battle
against a blood cancer called
Hodgkin lymphoma.

“It’s a common cancer
in her age group,” said Tan,
“but most patients—up to
80 percent—usually respond
very well to chemotherapy.
Unfortunately for this patient,
she was one of the 20 percent
who do not respond well. After
she completed chemotherapy,
she relapsed. Her cancer came
back.”

Having
experienced
little
success
with
chemotherapy,
the
patient
received the standard next
line of treatment in Singapore
for her condition: stem cell
transplant.
The
treatment,
however, was unsuccessful.
The patient’s disease continued
to progress, and a huge tumor
grew in her chest.
Tan dubs this scenario a
“medical futility,” where a
patient degenerates despite
medical efforts. At this juncture,
the Director of Research at
Raffles Hospital said that
specialists would normally shift
to a different strategy where
the aim is to let the patient go
peacefully.

Fortunately at that
time, a new type of treatment
for Hodgkin lymphoma was
approved in Singapore. It was
called immunotherapy – and in
this particular situation, it was
applied through an immune
checkpoint
blocker
called
Pembrolizumab. This treatment
was prescribed to the patient at
a time when there were almost
no options.

“After two months,
her tumor resolved. Since then,
she has been continuously
receiving
immunotherapy
and has been experiencing its
medical benefits for one-and-a-
half years. Now, we are happy
to say she is back at work,” Tan
reported.
What is Hodgkin lymphoma?

Hodgkin lymphoma is
a cancer of the lymphocyte, one
of the five main types of white
blood cells. The cancer is most
common among adults in their
20s and 30s, and unlike lung
cancer, which has been very
clearly linked to smoking, its
precise cause is still unknown.

In its early stages,
Hodgkin lymphoma may show
no symptoms, but when it does,
they are usually in the form of
swollen lymph nodes.
“Patients usually come to us
because they feel a lump in their
neck, and then we send patient
for lab tests, and that’s when we
find the cancer,” Tan said.

Before immunotherapy
was
introduced,
the
conventional method of treating
Hodgkin
lymphoma
was
chemotherapy which uses drugs
that are toxic to cancer cells.
However, these drugs can also
affect healthy cells, elevating
the risk of side effects such as
hair loss and diarrhea.
I m m u n o t h e r a p y,
on the other hand, helps the
body’s own immune system
and strengthens it to fight the
cancer.

“We found that in
Hodgkin lymphoma, the body
is unable to fight the cancer
because the cancer produces
a protein that suppresses the
patient’s immune cells and
prevents them from fighting the
cancer. What immunotherapy
does is it breaks this interaction
between that protein and the
immune cells, so now the
immune system is again able
to engage and attack the cancer
cells,” Tan explained.
A new treatment option
A l t h o u g h
Pembrolizumab has only been
approved for the treatment of
Hodgkin lymphoma less than
two years ago, it has already
been around for more than
four years and has been earlier
approved for the treatment of
lung cancer and melanoma.

“We found, though,
that people with Hodgkin
lymphoma respond even better
to immunotherapy than patients
with melanoma or lung cancer,”
he said.
The
current
recommendation is for patients
to continue receiving treatment
until they and their doctor
see that the cancer has not
progressed for two years.
Depending on the cancer
though, some doctors have
reported stopping at six doses
and finding that the effects of
the drug endure. In other words,
the cancer does not come back.
Tan
elaborates,
“Studies on immunotherapy
drugs have shown success
rates of over 70 percent where
tumors become smaller, and
some patients have complete
remission, meaning there is
no evidence of the tumor left
in the body. For patients like
mine, where we have run
out of options, a drug like
this that is able to give a 70
percent response, is a most
welcome major advancement in
medicine.”

In the Philippines,
immunotherapy is already
approved for the treatment of
non-small cell lung cancer.
Efforts to bring knowledge of
it to the public, as well as to
push for increased access to the
treatment, have been steadily
strengthened by concerned
groups
and
organizations,
which include members of
the medical community and
advocate patient groups.
For
example,
immunotherapy
advocates,
such as the “Hope From Within”
coalition, a multi-stakeholder
collaboration that elevates the
fight against cancer, is working
on its new game plan that would
include promoting awareness,
prevention, screening, and
immunotherapy treatment for
Hodgkin lymphoma, advanced
melanoma, and head and neck
cancers.

Members
of
this
coalition include the Department
of Health, Philippine Society
of Oncologists, Philippine
Society of Medical Oncology,
Philippine Alliance of Patient
Organizations, and healthcare
company
MSD
in
the
Philippines.