Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is upbeat over prospects of getting funds for the construction of a new Cebu City Medical Center, a project estimated to cost P1.5 billion. The mayor, who has just returned from the United States, was all smiles when he announced at a news conference that Operation Smile is keen on helping, but there’s a catch: The humanitarian organization wants the new CCMC as a regional hub for specific medical issues namely, cleft lip and cleft palate; appendicitis and cataract and fistula.
The medical features are related to the core service of Operation Smile, which annually conducts free reconstructive surgery on cleft lips and palates in many countries around the world including the Philippines, notably in Cebu where OS has been addressing such issues for the past 16 years. Operation Smile was founded by William Magee in the mid ‘80s but the Cebu leg of the medical mission came to Cebu only in 1998 after a local foundation headed by Cebuana philanthropist Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung partnered with OS International.
To date, OS Cebu has extended the “gift of a smile” to some 4,000 children of indigent families. In fact, the group is scheduled to conduct its 16th annual medical mission this coming June 9. The 5-day medical service will be held at the Adventist Hospital, formerly HW Miller Hospital and Sanitarium in Cebu City.
I have covered a number of OS medical missions in the past and I learned from Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung Charitable Foundation, Inc. chairperson Mariquita “Ekit” Yeung that OS Cebu has been pushing for a separate facility in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center. The plan was to outfit one floor of the provincial hospital with medical service features to respond to the needs of cleft lip and palate patients. I understand there had been initial talks but apparently they didn’t bear fruit.
Mike and Ekit are good friends. How interesting to note that a new and modern city hospital is Mike’s pet project and Madame Salimbangon-Yeung’s voice, I believe, has some resonance in OS International.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but if this is all that Operation Smile requires to fund the construction of the new city hospital, I don’t think this is a major hurdle. The mandate of the city to deliver medical care to its constituents hews closely with the goals of the non-profit organization.
Meanwhile, business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan wants to come on board the hospital project under a co-management scheme. I will not be surprised if MVP’s offer will be met with a lot of suspicion because he had wanted to acquire the hospital during the administration of former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
During that time, then Vice Mayor Michael Rama opposed the plan but as they say, nothing is permanent in this world. I’m glad he recognizes the plan needed to be studied because for one thing, the objectives of the city government are different from that of a business enterprise.
The city has a social mandate to perform, in this case, the delivery of public health and medical care services.
The government allocates funds for the specific purpose and profit is no consideration. On the other hand, the businessman looks closely at the return of investment because there are salaries to pay and operating expenses to meet. In sum, government and business have such disparate interests and incompatible goals that the scheme looks rather unrealistic.
Still, MVP’s offer is worth looking into. His ever-growing portfolio includes interests in the medical sector, a platform that he believes will help make the Philippines a medical hub in the Asian region. We live in a period of changing paradigms and if private interests can be used to benefit the poor, why not?
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Now that the World Economic Forum (WEF) has come to an end, alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles submitted her tell-all affidavit to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. The so-called Napolist named 20 senators and 100 congressmen as having transacted with Mrs. Napoles’ bogus organizations as funnel for the legislators’ P10 billion pork barrel funds.
This is not to say that WEF foreign delegates consisting of two heads of state, global leaders in business, academe, and nongovernment organizations are clueless about the biggest corruption story in the country. In fact, WEF founder Klaus Scwab told ANC that media coverage works in the interest of transparency because it allows people to talk about it and participate in discussions that hopefully would contribute to truth telling.
The scheme of putting up bogus NGOs is not at all rocket science and Napoles may just be the favorite NGO dealer at a particular period, from 2004 to 2009. What about in previous years, say 2000 to 2004 or 2009 to 2013?
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Last Sunday, I joined the community of Schoenstatt Philippines in celebrating the success of the organization’s 2nd national congress held early this month. The group had planned to go to Moalboal town but I suggested that we go instead on an ecotourism adventure in Aloguinsan, southwest of Cebu.
I have been to Aloguinsan in 2010 and I’m glad to see the community-based ecotourism project which centers on the beauty and bounty of Bojo River and the innate creativity of the people is becoming very popular among foreign and domestic tourists.
We were given a royal welcome by the Bojo Aloguinsan Eco-Tourism Association (Baetas) and later in the afternoon, we had a chance meeting with Mayor Cynthia Moreno who invited us to return and sample the beauty of nearby Cantabogon.
Our weekend adventure would not have been possible without Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, whose office kindly provided a ride on a Suroy-Suroy bus to and from Aloguinsan. Grace Paulino of the Office of the Governor and Boboi Costas, tourism consultant of Aloguinsan also coordinated our visit.
On behalf of Schoenstatt Philippines, daghang salamat kaninyong tanan.