Tuli in Isabel

Circumcision in Isabel
Pagtutuli
A few decades ago, genital incision of Isabelanon boys (pagtutuli) was purely a traditional custom. An amateur (manunuli) would perform it on local boys . In some areas, the boys sit astride a banana log into which a wooden plug has been inserted as an "anvil". The traditional rite is only superincision, a dorsal slit, removing no tissue (but with variations). In Isabel like the whole part of the Philippines, circumcision is only one of summer’s rituals of passage. It used to be that after young men had recovered from circumcision, their older male relatives would bring them to a brothel for their “binyag,” a second, more profane form of baptism, But not all have their “binyag”.
More recently pagtutuli is becoming medicalised (and commercialised).
Medicalising the custom, as elsewhere, also often involves increasing the damage to removal of the entire foreskin. The intermediate step of questioning the need for doing it at all has been strangely bypassed.
Routine circumcision anywhere is always of babies or pre-adolescent boys - the great majority of men who have experienced sex when they have a foreskin would never tolerate having it removed. In the Philippines, it has strong elements of a "rite of passage" to manhood, though once he has healed, very little about a boy's life actually changes. At present, peer-pressure, parental pressure, medical pressure and the stigma against being supót (intact) make childhood circumcision almost - but not quite - inevitable.

Why do Isabelanon prefer to be Circumcise:
"PISOT" shouted a newly circumcised young boy to one of his "uncut" peers, while wincing at the pain brought about by his newfound manhood. His "uncut" friend was now running off with tears streaming down his face.
This is a usual scenario come summer time when most young Isabelanon boys (I think all over whole Philippines) earn their "manhood" through routine circumcision. Those who are "cut" boast of their "manliness," while those who are yet to experience the "right of passage" are left embarrassed by their condition, anxious for their time to come.
A predominantly Catholic country, circumcision in the Philippines has long become an obligation and a tradition. Following Christian doctrine, Filipinos believe that circumcision is a symbol of the covenant between man and God. Nobody dared question the practice.

The Tomato metaphors:
There is a folk belief that the circumcised male should “protect” his wares from the female gaze, lest this swell and redden like tomatoes. That belief could well be used to explain that manhood is a matter of learning to be responsible, and of respecting women. Another belief here in Isabel about tomato metaphors is not to step on chicken droppings or else it swell like tomatoes. Tomato metaphors aside, I’ve found in the Philippines that it’s especially useful to remind young men to see, in every woman, their own mother or sister,That kind of thinking may yet be a more effective preventive action against HIV/AIDS and STDs and preventing young parents than circumcision.