The Outstanding Filipino Physicians » JCI Senate Philippines, DOH to honor Ten Outstanding Filipino Physicians (TOFP) on Sept. 29 at Manila Hotel

28 September 2008

JCI Senate Philippines, DOH to honor Ten Outstanding Filipino Physicians (TOFP) on Sept. 29 at Manila Hotel

Posted by admin under: Press Release; Updates .

September 29 will be a big night for 10 outstanding and patriotic Filipino doctors as they will be honored in a fitting ceremony at the Centennial Hall of the historic Manila Hotel after almost nine months search to be the recipients of the TOFP Awards for 2008.

The TOFP, of course, stands for “The Outstanding Filipino Physicians” organized by JCI Senate Philippines and the Department of Health with the support of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Launched in 2007, the project, also dubbed the TOFP Search, is just on its second year of implementation. And already, the TOFP Awards is now a much awaited event and considered as the “Oscar Awards for Filipino Physicians,” to which the JCI Senate Philippines lends its quality prestigious name.

The 10 outstanding Pinoy doctors have been chosen from a field of 38 nominees coming from the entire country in a rigorous search and screening directly handled by the 2008 TOFP National Steering Committee chaired by JCI Senator Melandrew T. Velasco.

The awardees have been chosen for the work and dedication they have shown to their profession which have contributed in a significant and exemplary way to the advancement of their calling, the fostering of patriotism through prevention of overseas migration of Filipino doctors, the upholding and exemplifying of the virtues of community service, the promotion of public health, and the enhancement of national development in general. This year’s theme is: “Serving and caring for our countrymen are the best works of life.”

Under the criteria, all nominees are 41 year of age or above on the date of Award. These are the patriotic physicians who have stood by their vow to come to the service of their patients, and particularly to serve their countrymen, resisting in the process the lure of more lucrative practice abroad.

Top-billing the list of guests to confer the honors on this year’s crop of TOFP Awardees are Health Secretary Francisco Duque, JCI Senate President President JCI Senator Carlos Co, Philhealth Executive Vice President Lorna Fajardo and PCSO Chairman Sergio Osmeña Valencia, himself a past JCISP President.

The awardees will receive the most coveted TOFP Trophy that was originally designed by world-class Filipino visual artist Ramon Orlina.

Comprising this year’s TOFP Board of Judges is a mixed roster of six civic-minded individuals, educators and medical practitioners, namely: Atty. Gonzalo T. Duque, president of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU); JCI Sen. Sergio Osmeña Valencia, Chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Director of the Philippine Social Security Association; Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez Tan, former Secretary of the Department of Health (1995) and incumbent president of the Health Futures Foundation, Inc. as well as Dr. Rey Melchor F. Santos, president of the Philippine Medical Association and this year’s TOFP Chairman of the Board of the Judges; Ms. Lorna O. Fajardo, the Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer (EVP/COO) of the PhilHealth; and Dr. Kenneth G. Ronquillo, Director IV of the Human Resource Development Bureau at the Department of Health.

Aside from PCSO and Philhealth, some private firms have joined the bandwagon in supporting the annual TOFP awards such as Manila Bulletin Publishing, ABS-CBN’s Salamat Dok and Business Mirror as media partners, TENA-SCA Hygiene Products, Philamlife, Citibank, Circulan, Ginebra San Miguel, Pascual Laboratories, Media Touchstone Ventures Inc. and Campaigns and Bridges.