For more than a year, Caspien Gruta has been teased because his circumcision — a rite of passage for boys in the Philippines — was delayed, first by a volcanic eruption and then the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I worry if I don’t get circumcised now, I will be shamed,” 12-year-old Gruta said.
The Philippines has one of the highest rates of circumcision in the world, with many seeing the centuries-old practice as key for boys to enter manhood.
Photo: AFP
Even as circumcision comes under increasing scrutiny elsewhere, with some critics branding it child abuse, it is rarely questioned in the Philippines, and boys face tremendous pressure to undergo the procedure. Every year, thousands of pre-teens have the operation free of charge at government or community-sponsored clinics.
However, last year, the “circumcision season” was canceled for the first time in living memory due to a COVID-19 outbreak, delaying the milestone for many boys like Gruta. who have been ridiculed by their male relatives and friends.
Gruta was one of the oldest boys to line up at a covered basketball court turned makeshift clinic in Silang, south of Manila, in one of the few provinces, Cavite, that have slowly been resuming the free service since May.
“I feel like I’m a genuine Filipino now,” Gruta said after the 20-minute procedure.
Wearing masks and face shields, the boys sat on plastic chairs near a row of wooden tables surrounded by a red curtain. Some looked excited or did their best to appear nonchalant, while others fidgeted.
After removing their shorts, the youngsters lay down on tables with their legs hanging over the edges and their groins covered by operating sheets. Some bit into a facecloth or covered their eyes as they were given a local anesthetic. The surgeon then went to work.
“I got circumcised because they said I will grow taller and I will get better in sports,” said 12-year-old Almer Alciro, who went to another outdoor clinic for his procedure.
His family could not afford a private hospital where the operation costs as much as 12,000 pesos (US$241) — more than what many workers earn in a month.
While he waited for the free service to resume, Alciro’s friends mocked him as “uncircumcised” — an insult similar to “coward.”
Circumcision has been practiced in the Philippines for centuries, enduring wars and colonizations by Spain and the US. Boys as young as eight face pressure to go under the knife. Even hospital advertisements urge boys to “Be Man Enough.”
Mass circumcisions are common from April to June, when school children are on a long break.
Circumcision is an important “demarcating line” between boys and men, when the youngsters take on more responsibility in the family and learn about sex, said Nestor Castro, a professor of anthropology at the University of the Philippines.
“Once a boy gets circumcised, he already leaves the position of being a child and he is now considered ... as an adult,” Castro said. “If you are a circumcised male ... you should act as a grown-up man.”
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