May 27, 2026
Minor surgeries yield major life-changing results
By Joy Rojas
At Tzu Chi Foundation’s 290th Medical Mission in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro, surgical procedures were limited to minor, minimally invasive cases conducted at the outreach’s venue in Victoria Plaza Hotel. Still, the free treatments were life-changing to those who availed of them.
A team of 12 doctors and nurses from Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) performed minor surgeries on 59 patients on May 23, and 56 patients on May 24.
For 40-year-old Arlene Beligan, the medical mission came at the right time. Six months ago, she discovered a lump on the sole of her left foot. Despite it being tiny, it was painful to walk, especially when she stepped on stones.
Learning about Tzu Chi’s two-day mission from her connections as a former barangay health worker, she signed up for minor surgery.
“I was feeling nervous, which is why my blood pressure went up,” she says. “But the doctor said, ‘It’s okay.’ That was it. I didn’t feel anything after they injected the anesthesia. It went well. The doctors are very skilled and kind.”
Now 74, Teodoro Mendoza Mercado jumped at the chance to have a benign cyst on the back of his head removed. The growth had been there since he was 18 years old.
“I got into a fight,” explains Mercado, a member of the Alangan Mangyan Indigenous Peoples in Mindoro, of his cyst’s origin. “One night, during a full moon, someone threw a stone at me. It hit my shoulder then here,” he says, pointing to where the cyst grew and stayed for years. Although it never caused him pain, it bothered him each time he lay his head down.
More than five decades later, Mercado can’t stop smiling as his cyst is finally gone, its contents now in a plastic bag. “They treated me well,” he says of the reception he received at the medical mission. “They just told me to lie down then they operated. I didn’t feel a thing.”
Although Milagros Lappay Perez only had her non-cancerous cyst since 2017, she felt she had suffered long enough. Located on her upper right leg, close to her buttocks, the large growth compromised even the simplest tasks. She walked with a limp and sat with her leg crossed to avoid putting pressure on the large ball-shaped tumor. “Sometimes it hurts but I just ignore it,” she says. “But lately, I’ve been getting worried because it’s getting bigger.”
With no resources to have it removed in a regular hospital, Perez took advantage of Tzu Chi’s medical mission. Upon entering the venue, she felt totally at ease.
“The operation was a bit painful, probably because the lump was so big,” she says after the procedure. “But when it was about to be removed, I felt like a heavy burden had been lifted off me. It really felt like a thorn was pulled out from my side.”
As Perez recalls the sincerity and generosity shown by Tzu Chi volunteers, tears begin to well up in her eyes. This time, they’re not from pain. “I always prayed for this and now it happened,” she says with a smile. “These are tears of joy.”
For volunteer surgeon Dr. Leonard Lao, Perez’s response is reason enough to participate in medical missions. Citing how one patient kept thanking him from the time he entered the makeshift operating room till the time he was finished with his procedure, Dr. Lao says, “When you see happy faces, that alone is overwhelming.”
A TIMA member since early 2000s, Dr. Lao started by helping prepare medical equipment. In 2016, he began joining Tzu Chi’s surgical missions, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao areas.
While underprivileged patients appreciate the free and expert treatment they receive from big city doctors, there’s a sense of fulfillment that Dr. Lao feels when he’s applying his medical expertise on a person who probably hasn’t seen a doctor in years, if at all.
“The reason why we join is to be able to give back the blessings that we were provided,” he reflects. “When you continue giving blessings to others, the blessings continue to be poured upon you. It's like a give-and-take thing. We continue to give, and somehow, we continue to receive.”
With that mindset, anything is possible—including the rise of the Tzu Chi Medical Center, which had its groundbreaking ceremony on May 8 at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
“The medical center looks daunting right now. It looks like an impossible task. But again, as long as we continue to share our blessings, the blessings of that hospital will be built,” he says with much certainty. “So, you have to continue giving, because every day is a blessing.”
Minor surgical procedures are performed simultaneously by TIMA’s volunteer doctors in a makeshift operating room at the Victoria Plaza Hotel in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro.
Minor surgical procedures are performed simultaneously by TIMA’s volunteer doctors in a makeshift operating room at the Victoria Plaza Hotel in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro.
TIMA surgeons accommodated cases that didn’t require patients to be put under general anesthesia.
TIMA surgeons accommodated cases that didn’t require patients to be put under general anesthesia.
TIMA surgeons accommodated cases that didn’t require patients to be put under general anesthesia.
TIMA surgeons accommodated cases that didn’t require patients to be put under general anesthesia.
TIMA surgeons accommodated cases that didn’t require patients to be put under general anesthesia.
A TIMA surgeon removes a benign cyst on the sole of Arlene Beligan’s left foot.
Milagros Lappay Perez lies on her stomach as TIMA surgeons remove a large ball-shaped cyst on her upper right leg, close to her buttocks.
Finally, the cyst that caused Milagros Lappay Perez to limp whenever she walked and sit with her leg crossed has been removed.
After a successful removal of a benign cyst at the back of his head, Teodoro Mendoza Mercado (right) gives back by placing a donation in Tzu Chi’s coin bank.
Volunteering in Tzu Chi medical missions since the early 2000s, Dr. Leonard Lao vows to continue extending his surgical expertise to indigent patients for as long as he can stand and walk. “We really appreciate that we are able to help,” he says.
For TIMA doctors, compassionate care counts as much as surgical expertise.
TIMA surgeons Dr. Jovanni Lo (left) and Dr. Willy Dy share a light moment between minor operations.
Patients say "thank you" the Tzu Chi way, with their thumbs bowing in gratitude.