On Tuesday, May 21, 2026, the Provincial Government of Camarines Sur formally received the first Mobile Well-being Clinic for Women and Children in the Philippines, a fully equipped mobile health and protection unit. The ceremonial signing and turnover was held at the Digital Transformation Center, Capitol Complex, Cadlan, with Governor Luis Raymund“Lray” F. Villafuerte, Jr. accepting the unit on behalf of the more than two million Camarinense.
The mobile clinic was donated through a partnership between the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Philippines and the Australian Government through Australian Aid, under the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT-UNFPA) multi-year prepositioning program — an initiative that places life-saving resources in high-risk areas before disasters occur. Camarines Sur was selected as the recipient province given its status as one of the country’s most typhoon-stricken and flood-prone areas, where access to essential health services for women and children is most at risk during calamities.
“We know what it means to live in the path of a storm,” Governor Villafuerte said during the turnover ceremony. “We know what it means to rebuild year after year, and we know painfully that when disasters strike, it is women and children who bear the heaviest burden — maternal care corrupted, survivors of violence with nowhere to turn, services that exist on paper but cannot reach the people who need them the most.”
The mobile unit is designed to deliver ante-natal and post-natal care, gender-based violence (GBV) response and referrals, psychosocial support, reproductive health services, and anti-VAWC (Violence Against Women and their Children) interventions. It also carries programs aimed at ending harmful practices and reducing unintended pregnancies — services that will be provided to communities in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas that have historically been difficult to reach.
The Provincial Health Office (PHO) and the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) will serve as the lead implementing offices for the clinic’s operations, ensuring coordinated medical and social welfare services are delivered to survivors and patients.
UNFPA Philippines Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. DofelJoseph Calla said the mobile unit embodies the principle of leaving no one behind. “This mobile WCPU brings the hospital, the rural health unit, the sanctuary, and the social support directly to the doorsteps of the vulnerable.”
Calla noted that the donation reflects Australia’s deep investment in humanitarian preparedness. “Through our DFAT-UNFPA multi-year prepositioning program, Australia has proven time and again that its partnership with the Philippines is deeply rooted in human dignity,” he declared.
The turnover was also graced with the presence of DOH Undersecretary Dr. Glenn Matthew Baggao and DOH CHD Bicol OIC Regional Director Dr. Rosa Maria Rempillo, underscoring the national government’s support for the initiative. Also present during the ceremony were Vice Governor Sal Fortuno Jr., members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, PCOL Virgilio O. Olalia Jr. of the CamSur Provincial Police Office, and the chiefs of the provincially managed hospitals.
The new mobile clinic joins a growing fleet of healthcare on wheels under the Provincial Government, including the Women’s Wellness on Wheels, Hospital on Wheels, Eye Clinic on Wheels, Dental Clinic on Wheels, and the Laboratory Diagnostic Bus. Together, these mobile units form part of the province’s broader strategy of bringing health services directly to communities, particularly those in far-flung barangays and sitios.
Governor Villafuerte pledged that the clinic would be actively deployed and not left idle. “We will integrate it fully into our Provincial Health Office and social welfare operations daily so that before, during, and after every emergency, our frontliners have the tools they need to protect the most vulnerable among us,” he said. “Your investment will be matched by ours. Your generosity will be honored not with words but with results — because here in Camarines Sur, our brand of governance is simple: Aksyon, Hindi Salita.”
UNFPA Philippines reaffirmed its commitment to continue working with the Provincial Government, including support for healthcare workers, capacity-building for local response teams, and shared goals toward ensuring that every pregnancy in the province is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and no one is left behind in the delivery of health and protection services.
