Sayan Indio
Mario F. Karateka

SINGA abilay lamet ed nonot ko imay panaon antis ya impaakseb nen Makoy so “martial law” ed bansa, on, aramay bulan antis na Setyembre 1972 (sigepaladtan gis may eyds), nen anengneng kod TV so impanbobombay danom ed saray raliyista dimad Manila kaibalay datin Bise Presidente Teofisto Guingona, si datin gobernador tayod Pangasinan Oscar Orbos, si Senadora Jamby Madrigal tan pati saray obispos tan papari.

Makmaksil ya imahen parad saray internasyonal iran medya so saman ya eksena nen apoyopoyot irarayan personalidad, ya pati samay payrtrak ya nanlapoay maksil ya bugay danom et nalad kamera.

Ontan so pigura nen datin Don Joaquin “Chino” Roces sanen wadman ya onaarap ed saray puwersay rehimen nen Presidente Marcos ed pegley na karsada na Mendiola dimad Manila, sakey a masiken ya anggapoy kalaban-laban tod maksil ya puwersay danom ya impapaarap dad sikara pian buyaken so rali na saray sunggay ed ley nen Marcos.

Ibabagay Gobyerno ya walay riport ya naawat ton alooban odino na-inpiltreyt na saray maka-kawigi (leftist) iman so rali, anggaman saya et imbalap ya sakey a prosesyon relihiyoso pian idasal so kareenan parad bansa. Kanian onmanla kono so pilit dan ag padalanen iray raliyista ya paonlad sakey ya eskuelaan komon no iner diman mansampot so rali da. Asingger met lantila iman a pasen ed Malakanyang kanian mapaga iray kapolisan.

Kuantoniay Ka Orbos ed teks mesedyis tora kasompal na insidente et onia: “We will win this one for the people!” Labay ton ibaga, si “Pare” (nen Mare Winnie Monsod) et anggapolay dakel ya pakiyeme de paamot no anto so liknaan ton tua ed isyu na pansiansia nen nana Gloria. Sabagay, diad sarayan panaon, kaukulan met a tuay pananalindegan ed prinsipyo. Sikatoy prinsipyo to, kanian libre met ya ilaban to itan.
Magulolan maong so Pilipinas natan. No walay mangibori ed satan et anggapolay mata tan layag to siguro.

Parad siak a sakey labat et agko nanenengneng so ideen na bilay politikaldiad bansa anggan onsabi so Krismas. No aliling to et asugatan lay biek tan biek , kanian ansakit, anagasang tan andi-ebas lay laban anggad kasampotan.
Bendisyonan pay Manamalsa so Pilipinas natan!

* * *
Insan nia lamet a isasali da ya ikday kasalat a sugal so jueteng ed panemegley na tatawagen a Loterya ng Bayan (LNB) ya kono et egnaan na sakey korporasyon a akakabit ed Pilipin Tsariti Swipistiks Opis, say Numbers Numbers Inc. Pinilipili danin pangigapoan ed eksperimenton pasugal et say Pangasinan – ya luyag na manonaan ya kalaban na jueteng, si Arsobispo Oscar Cruz.

Karakel na probinsiya, akin et Pangasinan ni?

Singa akalmoy tampol ya suporta iyan Loterya ta tampol ya inaksiyonan na saray walad hunta probinsiyal, panamegley nen Bord Mimber Manoy Karantso, so sulat nen Rolando Dee na Mangaldan, say probinsiyal koordineytor na sayan balon sugal. Walan gaween so pandengel ed komento na publiko ed sayan iloob na balon sugal. No pabor, mangawan tampol na resolusyon so konseho ya mangiabuloy ed saya.

Singa sabit balet natan ed beklew so posisyon nen Gobernador Victor Agbayani ta imbaga tolan agto labay ya gaween itan ya eksperimenton sugal ed luyag to.

Say tepet a baleg natan et onia: Nakombinsi to kasi iray miyembro na sanggunian ed posisyon to, odino. . .sikato so nakombinsi ra naani?

Bantayan!

About time our authorities decided to ferret out the real score, that is, the identities of doctors put under the cloud of suspicion – let’s stress that: suspicion – by the discovery of a so-called “blue book” from some arrested couriers of counterfeit drugs listing the names of some prominent local doctors as their clients or contacts.

Over a month since this newspaper sought disclosure of the names of these doctors supposedly patronizing counterfeit drugs to be sold to their unwary patients, the government agency most concerned with the on-going investigation into this mess, the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) has sealed its lips. The longer it does, the more the faceless patients out there risk being prescribed by their “trusted” doctors medicines the effectiveness of which are at best doubtful, if not totally zero. BFAD, through its point man in the case, Dr. Reynaldo Jacinto of its enforcement unit, has been defending its intransigence by saying it is not quite eager to face libel suits for such disclosures.

It is good the provincial board through its health committee chair, Dionisio “Saffe” Villar last week sent out the word it won’t hear of such nonsense and would want Jacinto and his agency to bare the names of the doctor-patrons or risk (probably) being cited in contempt. This, of course, may still be done in executive session to allay the fear of Jacinto and Company about being sued. The Provincial Administrator, Virgilio Solis, a lawyer himself, has joined the clamor for disclosure saying BFAD should now “name names” for a better management of the potentially damaging neither-here-nor-there tact being taken by the bureau and subsequently enforce discipline and sanctions on erring practitioners where these are needed.

The request for name disclosure gains more importance now with the reports, fed piecemeal by BFAD itself to some media sources, unofficially of course, that the food and drugs bureau had been referring all along to doctors in government hospitals as being the counterfeiters’ “secret partners” in the promotion of their illicit products. This immediately casts the shade of suspicion on all physicians in the public hire and makes BFAD party to the undermining of the very health department to which it owes allegiance.

At some point, Jacinto has to decide whether protecting the reputation of the concerned and suspected physicians is more paramount than protecting the general health welfare on unsuspecting patients as well as the names of his fellow doctors now unfairly tainted by his playing the local version of Norberto Gonzales in the Venable PR contract imbroglio.

Come off it now, BFAD. If these disciples of Hippocrates were willing enough to be a party to a crime, they should be man (or woman?) enough to face the consequences of disclosure.

AFTER ALL
Behn Fer. Hortaleza, Jr.

HEARD the attractive city attorney Geraldine B. on radio sometime last week apparently trying to wiggle out of a question on the controversial “diverted” diversion road in Lucao. Failing, she eventually admitted making initial legal studies on the culpability of the DPWH for the unilaterally extended road project. We just caught the tailend of her answers to the anchorman’s question, something like while the project is funded by the national government, it is still local territory (Dagupan’s) that’s involved and so the city is within its right to take action.

As everyone knows by now, City Mayor Benjie Lim has opposed the “change in plans” executed by DPWH that would now have the roadline (actually part of the “circumferential road” dream project of House Speaker Joe DV and even BSL himself), passing through the back of the CSI crown area, the City Mall, instead of out somewhere through the Nel Ars subdivision and connecting to the de Venecia highway.

Again, lawyer Geraldine finds herself thrust in a big case that would probably be a precedent in national government-local government relations. She it was, remember, who started the heat on Napocor, and later, Mirant Philippines, for the payment of discontinued real property taxes during her time as provincial legal officer, forcing the giant corporation to the negotiating table and eventually – ironically, after she had left her post in the Capitol – paying up millions in accumulated dues to the provincial government early this year.

If this battle were to proceed, as loudly vowed by Mayor BSL, despite a seeming rebuff of him – or his stand – by JDV no less when the Speaker bluntly said over the weekend he sees nothing wrong with the revision because the project is for the people, it could either make or unmake the King of Magic. On the surface, what BSL is fighting against is the penchant of government functionaries to use more, instead of less, money to do a project. But critics can’t help seeing some personal agenda behind the opposition as CSI is a known commercial rival of Magic, the Lim family’s supermarket and mall chain.

Those who scoff at Benjie’s move however should watch out; having apparently fallen from grace in Malacanang for his position during the GMA impeachment case, he has nothing more to lose. He will go for broke on this one.

That is, unless he will fall (for the second time only, we believe) for the de Venecia charm again. Remember the first time when a BSL, in near-tears, was talked out of running for congressman anew by JDV, paving the way for his candidacy for the mayoralty post instead?

Watching Atty.Geraldine B’s next moves will indicate whether BSL has decided to finally cross his Rubicon.

The Pen Speaks
Danny O. Sagun

HE may not be eating threats for breakfast yet as feisty Sen. Miriam Santiago had claimed during her stormy days at the immigration bureau but Ray Jacinto of the Bureau of food and Drugs (BFAD) may soon be forced to do so at the rate he is doing his job as head of the enforcement division of the agency against erring doctors and drugstore owners as well. He is stepping on too many sensitive toes.

Dr. Jacinto took centerstage with the recent expose about some 10 doctors from Pangasinan allegedly involved in the dispensing or sale of counterfeit drugs from Pakistan and India. Ray, an active colleague in the Consumernet and busy doing information work on consumerism as we do at the PIA Pangasinan, is being pressured to name names. Provincial Administrator Virgilio Solis himself asked him to identify the erring doctors to start a proper investigation on the matter.

But Ray wont bite. “Gusto nila malibel ako?,” he reacted when we similarly asked him to do so after an interview over DZRH Dagupan last Thursday morning. He said he will only reveal the names once complaints are filed against them.

No Pangasinan physician is facing a court complaint yet in connection with the dispensing or sale of counterfeit drugs. In Ilocos Sur, BFAD has already filed complaints against alleged violators. He rattled off the names of certain doctors there like Resonable, Daus and Ragasa, known physicians who operate hospitals and drugstores.

Jacinto disclosed that his assets — patients and some drugstore owners themselves — are similarly under threats. He noted that the 10 or so doctors alluded to as customers of a Pakistani national, who is alleged to be importer of the drugs, are that influential and well-connected.

The Calasiao police last August 5 arrested two women traders for selling counterfeit drugs peddled by the Pakistani. They are out on bail of P60,000 each. The NBI also arrested later a Filipino-Indian In Lucao for the same offense.

Counterfeit drugs are not necessarily fake but are imported and did not pass thru BFAD.

In short, they are smuggled, he clarified. Fake drugs, on the other hand, are produced locally (In Pampanga particularly) and with no curative effect as they are made of gawgaw. “Baka lahar pa,” he said noting that lahar abounds in Pampanga after the Mount Pinatubo eruption. Fakes can be readily distinguished thru their poor labeling and packaging. Imported ones bear those “bulate” (Arabic) markings. The brand name is inscribed in large letters while the generic name, if there is, is hardly distinguishable. A registered imported drug, he also clarified, bears the words in the label “Imported by (name of drug company, say Pfizer)”

On why medicines here cost that much, he laid the blame on drug manufacturers who, he said, spend too much on promotional gimmicks and company-sponsored conventions for doctors. Due to deforestation, the country lacks raw materials for making medicines but such materials still abound in other countries like Pakistan and India where cheap medicines come from.

Judging from few interactions with him (during the Consumernet meetings and that DZRH interview) we could still see his idealism and sincerity in his work though Ray is past nearing the optional retirement age. He sighs that young doctors now are no longer of the service-oriented type forgetting their Hippocratic oath about service to humanity.

WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza

Like most young people fresh from college, Jennifer Perez wanted to have a job. An Education graduate, she had dreamed of being a public school teacher one day in her hometown of Alaminos City. But while waiting for her acceptance in the Department of Education, she saw an opportunity to work abroad. And on July 19 this year, Jennifer left for Jordan to work as a domestic helper.

But after barely a day in the house of her employer, Asaile Yousef Abetdat, in Irbid, Jordan, Jennifer fell from the second floor of her employer’s residence, breaking her neck and her pelvic bones, affecting her spinal column.

Jennifer’s employer had defensively maintained innocence and insisted that the accident was Jennifer’s fault. Apparently, Jennifer jumped from the balcony after she locked herself up in the room to resist the confiscation of her cellular phone.

But as it turned out later, when Jennifer finally regained consciousness and able to speak, it was Jennifer’s employer who pushed her when she refused to give her cellular phone.

At the hospital, doctors informed Overseas Workers Welfare Administration officials who immediately attended to Jennifer, that she needs a live-saving operation and that she had to be transferred to the Princess Basma Hospital in Amman, some 100 kilometers away from Irbid.

Jennifer’s surgery was finally conducted on July 29, 2005.

“It was successful in that it saved her life,” said Marco Antonio Liwag, OWWA region 1 director. “However, due to the massive trauma on her neck and spine, she is permanently quadriplegic and requires mechanical ventilation for the rest of her life,” he added.

Another surgery was conducted on August 1, 2005 on her left femur fracture and on August 7, 2005 for tracheostomy.

As of September 7, 2005, Jennifer’s hospital bills have reached US$31,290.55. Her local agent, Yobhel Trade and Management Services in Ermita, Manila and its contact in Jordan, Kathleen International, agreed to shoulder only US$6,000 of Jennifer’s hospital bills, after OWWA pressured them to help.

As of September 22, 2005 Jennifer’s outstanding balance was US$26,704.81, which is almost P1.5M. Furthermore, her continued stay at the hospital adds US$500-600 per day, excluding the cost of her medicines.

Jennifer’s grieving parents, Herminio, a former OFW and now a small businessman, and Lydia, a public school teacher, of Bisocol, Alaminos City do not have that money and with the help of the OWWA, they have sought the assistance of Alaminos Bishop Jesus Cabrera to raise fund for their daughter.

The Philippine Embassy in Amman, meanwhile, has initiated legal proceedings against the employer.
The Filipino community in Jordan has also continued to visit Jennifer and volunteer nurses give her a regular bath and attend to her other personal needs.

OWWA and the local recruiter are now helping Jennifer’s father obtain a visitor’s visa to Jordan so that he could also see his daughter and personally attend to her needs. The visa application remains pending to date.

“While settlement of Jennifer’s current hospital bills is the immediate concern, fact remains that she is permanently quadriplegic and would require a breathing machine for the rest of her life. As such, she would need further financial assistance and care, even upon return to the country,” Liwag said.

QUICKQUOTE: The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone. — Orison Swett Marden