Triplets, quadruplets born at same hospital days apart

MANILA, Philippines - Two women gave birth to triplets and quadruplets within five days of each other at a public hospital in Manila, officials said yesterday.

Jose Abad Santos General Hospital (JASGH) director Dr. Teodoro Martin said Christine Botalon, 24, delivered three girls – weighing 2.15 kilos, 2.2 kilos and 1.9 kilos – on July 22 through caesarean section. It was Botalon’s second pregnancy.

He said Botalon’s husband, Morison, works as a stevedore in Port Area. The couple, natives of Albay, settled in Manila in search of greener pasture, according to Martin.

On July 27, Creselda Obella, 32, delivered four babies, two boys and two girls, Martin said it was Obella’s sixth pregnancy and she now has nine children in all. Her partner, Arnold Francisco, 36, is a field coordinator of the Manila Youth Bureau while she is a housewife.

The first of the quadruplets, a boy weighing 1.65 kilos, was named after Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim while the other boy, the youngest but heaviest quadruplet at 1.9 kilos, was named Theodore, after the hospital director. The two girls weighed in 1.65 kilos each.

The hospital, located in Binondo, was opened by Lim less than two years ago to provide poor residents of Manila’s third district with free medical services.

Lim said he visited the babies and their mothers at the hospital, accompanied by Rotary Club of Manila president Banit Caasi Jr. Both men gave the babies’ parents financial assistance.

Officials said had the babies been delivered in a private hospital, their parents will have to spend P500,000 to P1 million, especially since the quadruplets have to be incubated for a month until they are ready for discharge.