All Souls Day is a fitting occasion to honor Dr. Marcelo Y. Jaochico, a man who was instrumental in the revitalization of the Provincial Nutrition Committee of Pampanga Province.

Dr. Jaochico who may had battled the invisible coronavirus disease (COVID-19), succumbed on 24 March 2020. This special article is dedicated to him by the nutrition community, for remaining faithful to his mission and for being a model of profound love and service to his fellow Filipino.

NNC-Region III staff’ first encounter with Dr. Mar was during the 2018 Provincial Nutrition Awarding Ceremony organized by the province when he expressed his dream for the nutrition program of the Province of Pampanga.

NNC-Region III NPC Ana Maria B. Rosaldo recounted how the late Dr. Marcelo Y. Jaochico, Provincial Health Officer of the Provincial Health Office of Pampanga pushed for the designation of Ms. Elaine S. Tinambunan as Provincial Nutrition Action Officer during the First Reconvening Meeting of the PNC on 29 October 2019. He said that “someone has to take full responsibility of the nutrition program because nutrition is such a huge task of coordination and collaborative work”. He humbly offered his commitment and full support to Ms. Tinambunan in running the nutrition program of the province, “which he fulfilled up to the time he was called by our creator”, according to PNAO Tinambunan.  

Dr. Mar was the former Municipal Nutrition Action Officer of Minalin, Pampanga. Thus, he knows that managing a nutrition program requires more time, full attention and special skills on coordination and dealing with people.  

The First Reconvening Meeting of the PNC was fruitful and engaging because of the ideas injected by Dr. Mar and members of the PNC, as they recall that Pampanga Province was a performer in nutrition program before and was also a recipient of the prestigious “green banner” award.  And everyone was committed and motivated to regain the glory of the province.

February 19, 2020, month before he left this world, Dr. Mar sent an SMS to NNC through PNAO Tinambunan, which says (verbatim) “Gusto ko ipaabot mo sa NNC- must have a close coordination with DepEd the causes of dropouts in public schools are malnutrition, illnesses and teenage pregnancy – quality of education is also deteriorating despite of having good teachers in private school kaya malaki ang role ng NNC and Popcom to combat these causes”.  His SMS sounded like a “habilin” or a reminder to NNC-Region III on not to neglect the malnourished school children, NPC Rosaldo responded that the concern will be discussed with DepEd, Popcom and during the meeting of the Central Luzon Regional Nutrition Committee.

Dr. Mar must have anticipated the Results of Expanded National Nutrition Survey Part 2 Dissemination Forum of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology held on 29 October 2020 which showed that underweight, stunting and wasting among school children remain to be prevalent in the province at 18.8%, 15.2% and 9.2%, respectively. There were more underweight and wasted school children among males and in poor households. Stunted school-age children were mostly females and in poor households. Anemia prevalence is at 14.1% and was higher than the national estimate and was considered a “mild” public health problem.

As the above narrative recounted NNC’s encounter with Dr. Marcelo Y. Jaochico, below is a more deeper description of who Dr. Mar really is based on a TV interview of her daughter Cielo entitled “Mga Bayani sa Panahon ng Covid-19 pandemic (please watch the link: ABS-CBN facebook.com/watch).

Who is Dr. Marcelo Jaochico y Yabut?

He was a musician, who loves to play the clarinet, a simple guy who plays with her daughter, sings with her wife and serves as the Doctor for the Masses.   

Dr. Mar was the first Doctor to the Barrios assigned in Calanasan, Apayao.  He had served for 16 years, as the all-around doctor, pediatrician, obstetrician, family doctor until he became the Municipal Health Officer.  The malaria days were gone through his able assistance, where he was called “Doc Malaria Combat” offering his service in the remotest barangays, crossing the river, experiencing the grueling and exhausting drive to the mountain in Calanasan.  He was transferred in Manila that made him closer to his family.  He became a consultant of the Mercury Drugstore.  He also fought for his people to become level-headed and have a fair payment on diagnostic tests in hospitals that he served especially during the dengue and measles outbreak.  He was also one of the teams who rushed and helped in Tacloban, Leyte after the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda.

Dr. Mar’s unwavering support to his kapwa Pinoy continued as he led the Pampanga Medical and Disaster Team, with 249 members extended medical assistance to 3,952 evacuees at Batangas Provincial Sports Complex after the Taal Volcano eruption and he stayed for a week and returned twice to check and see the evacuees.

Dr. Jaochico may have reached his final mission but in our hearts, the mission of ending hunger and malnutrition remains. His utmost wish of caring for the children, school children and the youth will surely be pursued by his colleagues from the Provincial Nutrition Committee, not only in Pampanga Province but also with the rest of the PNCs of the 80 provinces in the entire country.

As her daughter Cielo Jaochico stated, “it is really hard waking up, with heavy heart, teary-eyed over the  news of a doctor perishing due to COVID-19 but salute instead of condolence is the proper word to say for him and the other doctors who died and are now considered modern day heroes.”

Dr. Mar, you must have gone ahead of us but your memories will linger as you became a loving husband to your wife, a nurturing and caring father to your children and children of your clients, a friend, a mentor, and all around doctor, pediatrician, obstetrician, family doctor, and performed many other roles that were not revealed to us. We offer to God our prayer “Eternal rest grant unto Marcelo, O Lord and may Your perpetual light shine upon him. Amen.” 

By:   NO III Angelita M. Pasos and NPC Ana Maria B. Rosaldo