フィリピンで「割礼シーズン」再開　コロナでの延期経て

【シランＡＦＰ＝時事】カスピエン・グルタ君（１２）は、フィリピン男子の通過儀礼である割礼が火山の噴火や新型コロナウイルスの流行により延期されたため、１年以上もからかいの対象になっていた。「今、割礼を受けなかったら恥をかくんじゃないかと心配」とグルタ君は語った。（写真はフィリピン・カビテ州シランで行われた集団割礼の会場で、手術を受ける男の子）
　フィリピンは世界でも特に割礼率の高い国の一つ。割礼は数百年前から行われており、男の子が大人になるために重要だと広く受け止められている。他国では割礼に対する疑念が広まりつつあり、「児童虐待」と批判されることもある。一方、フィリピンでは問題視されることはほぼなく、男の子には割礼を受ける大きな圧力がかかっている。
　政府や地域の支援を受け開設される診療所では毎年、多数の男子が無料で割礼手術を受けているが、昨年の「割礼シーズン」はコロナ禍により、人々の記憶に残る限りで初めて中止された。これにより、グルタ君を含め多くの男の子は割礼を延期せざるを得なくなり、家族内の男性や男友達から嘲笑される憂き目にあってきた。
　首都マニラ南方にあるカビテ州は、５月以降に徐々に無料手術を再開した数少ない州の一つ。同州シランにある屋根付きのバスケットコートに設置された仮設診療所に並んだグルタ君は、周りの子たちよりも年長だった。２０分の手術を終えると、「本物のフィリピン人になれた気がする。割礼を受けることはフィリピン人であることの一部だから」と語った。
　別の屋外診療所で手術を受けたアルメル・アルシロ君（１２）は、「僕が割礼を受けたのは、身長が伸びてスポーツがうまくなると言われたから」と話した。アルシロ君の家族は、私立病院での手術費用を捻出できなかった。私立病院での施術料は最高１万２０００ペソ（約２万６０００円）に上り、多くの人の月収を上回る。
　無料手術の再開を待つ間、アルシロ君は友達に「未割礼」と呼ばれ、からかわれていた。割礼が男らしさの象徴であるフィリピンでは、腰抜けと呼ばれることに近い悪口だ。手術後、アルシロ君は「やっと割礼を受けられてうれしい」と語った。
　集団割礼は、学校が夏休みに入る４～６月の猛暑期によく行われる。通常は１日に数百人が野外で手術を受けるが、今年はコロナ関連の規制により人数は大幅に減少。多くの地域ではコロナ流行が続いており、無料手術は再開していない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/09/03-13:26）

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 coronavirus pandemic.
I worry if I don't get circumcised now, I will be shamed, said Gruta, 12.
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.
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 for free at government or community-sponsored clinics.
But last year, the circumcision season was cancelled for the first time in living memory due to the virus outbreak, delaying the milestone for many boys like Gruta.
Left in limbo -- and with their foreskin intact -- the boys 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 make-shift clinic in Silang, Cavite south of Manila, one of the few provinces that have slowly resumed the free service since May.
I feel like I'm a genuine Filipino now because getting circumcised is part of being a Filipino, 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. Others fidgeted as they waited.
After removing their shorts, the youngsters lay down on a table with their legs hanging over the edge and their groin covered by an operating sheet.
Some bit into a facecloth or covered their eyes as they were given a local anaesthetic. 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 delayed procedure.
His family could not afford a private hospital where the operation costs as much as 12,000 pesos ($240) -- 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 in a country where the procedure is a badge of masculinity.
I'm happy that I'm finally circumcised, Alciro said.
- 'Demarcating line' -
Circumcision has been practised in the Philippines for centuries, enduring wars and colonisations by Spain and the United States.
Male circumcision tends to be more common in nations with significant Muslim or Jewish populations, and less so in Catholic-majority places.
Yet around 90 percent of males are circumcised for non-religious reasons in the Philippines, according to World Health Organization data.
Boys as young as eight face social pressure to go under the knife. Even hospital advertisements urge boys to Be Man Enough.
Mass circumcisions are common during the hottest months from April to June when school children are on a long break.
Normally hundreds of boys undergo outdoor surgery on a single day, but Covid-19 rules have drastically reduced group sizes.
Many areas have yet to restart the free service as they battle Covid-19.
The delays have knock-on effects.
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, no longer as a young boy.