We were met in Manila by Dr. Ron Gracilla, program chairman of Philippines Orthopaedics Overseas, and initiator of the SIGN project in the Philippines. He was a very good host and accompanied us through Manila and south to Davao City, a flying distance of about two hours.

Davao City is in the state of Mindanao, an area of conflict in the Philippines. The unrest in Mindanao made us realize the need for SIGN is so often in areas of conflict. These areas have poor economic development and high unemployment, resulting in dissatisfaction among the people. Many feel they have no stake in the future.

In Davao City, we met many wonderful people, including two great humanitarians; Dr. and Mrs. Reyes. Dr. Reyes is an orthopaedic surgeon. Mrs. Reyes manages the doctor’s private clinic, and has started several Rotary International projects in Davao City.

The SIGN project was initiated in the Davao Medical Center where we lectured to surgeons about SIGN technique. We then proceeded to the operating room where we worked on a number of cases. The last case was a proximal femur fracture completed in less than one hour. The patient was one of six people on a motorcycle that collided with a bus. Our patient was the only survivor. His fracture had a great deal of soft tissue damage. This case was done by the chief resident Dr. Dante Quirapas, nicknamed "Lightening." Dr. Quirapas will be leaving Davao Medical Center in six months for an extremely poor area of the Philippines, where he will start another SIGN project.