The Outstanding Filipino Physicians

Congratulations to the men and women of the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Senate Philippines and the Department of Health as you jointly conduct this year’s search for the 2008 Ten Outstanding Filipino Physician s (TOFP) with the theme, Serving and caring for our Countrymen are the Best Works of Life”

Your advocacy of selecting 10 patriotic and outstanding Filipino doctors who excel in their respective fields in medicine is indeed relevant considering that most of our doctors and medical professionals are lured with high paying jobs abroad. The fact that your honorees have provided indigent patients with affordable healthcare services and have chosen to serve the poor makes them truly noble and worthy of commendation.

It is heartwarming to note that this year’s awardees have shunned financial rewards rendering medical services to the less privileged. There is no greater sacrifice than this. And we salute you for your magnanimity.

To the honorees, may you continue to serve the public regardless of their status in life. With the support of civic groups like the JCI Senate P resident and government institutions like DOH, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, we can be assured of a healthier and more productive citizenry.

It has been an honor and privilege for the JCI Senate Philippines to have taken the Department of Health as its partner when it launched the search for The Outstanding Filipino Physicians (TOFP) last year. We grabbed that opportunity for we knew then the relevance to appreciate fellow doctors who have chosen to serve their countrymen.

Despite the cynicism of the times, we wanted to believe that there are still many doctors who are quietly practicing their Hippocratic oaths, doctors who have resisted the seduction of the almighty dollar and euro for the sake of their countrymen

We appreciate the fact that searching for the best is a tedious, difficult and expensive work perhaps only the Jaycees can successfully do in the mold of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) and The Outstanding Filipino * (TOFIL).

The rich harvest of awardees this year is a living testimony to that belief. The prestige that comes with the award will again make us proud of our Filipino physicians.

My only fear is that, when our stewardship of the DOH would have ended, and like most other things it will eventually happen, what we have started may not be sustained.

May I take this opportunity then to challenge the JCI Senate leaders to face the challenge of sustaining the TOFP search and awards as sustainable and self-financing program. You made it happen and you can keep it happening,

Congratulations to the TOFP and to this year’s Ten Outstanding Filipino Physicians!

It is my distinct honor and privilege to extend my warmest felicitations to the winners of this year’s “The Outstanding Filipino Physician” (TOFP). In spite of the opportunities that abound elsewhere outside the country, many of our precious Filipino medical doctors decided to stay in the Philippines in the service of fellow Filipinos. It is their love of their calling and discipline worthy of the adjective “uncommon valor;” that they opted to render service to fellow Filipinos in our eternal search for better health and longer life.

From the acute crisis in public health care in the country springs the TOFP award. The increasing concern for international migration of doctors that has escalated to something of a national emergency is well-founded. Statistics have belied this unmistakable phenomenon since 2001. The demand for doctors from international hospitals and our people’s attempt to cash in on this demand will eventually leave us with more than 10,000 short by the year 2010.

It is with the noble objective of reversing the medical brain drain in the country by giving due recognition to the best Filipino doctors with heroic deeds and who decided to spend the best of their professional lives, in the country, in the service of our beloved countrymen in the universal pursuit of good health and long life.

Our deepest gratitude goes to our partners, individual and corporate sponsors, members of the TOFP Organizing Committee, led by Chairman Mel Velasco, members of the JCI Senate Philippines National Board and to all those who took part in making this second TOFP search a worthwhile endeavor.

On the other hand, lavish poetic praises might not be enough to express our appreciation to our partner, the Department of Health and our corporate sponsors, the Philhealth and PCSO together with the men and women of the JCI Senate Philippines and the Department of Health who labored but dedicatedly to make the TOFP 2008 the success that it is today.

On behalf of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, I would like to extend my sincerest congratulations to the winners and organizers of this year’s “The Outstanding Filipino Physicians” (TOFP) Search.

Despite the great number of Filipino doctors, the current ratio is a physician for every 28,493 citizens, brought about by the outward migration of seven out of ten licensed Filipino physicians causing us the loss of our best and brightest clinicians.

If this trend is not controlled and properly managed, the country will eventually be bled of doctors which has already compromised the delivery of health services in the country and may result in higher morbidity, mortality, and infection rates.

It is therefore reassuring that JCI Senate Philippines, Inc., in collaboration with the Department of Health and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, have initiated this noble project by providing inspiration for our medical practitioners as they continue to serve their countrymen. May this project enhance the motivation and pride of our medical professionals in pursuit for a healthy, strong and productive citizenry.

My warmest congratulations to the winners; your being selected to this prestigious award symbolizes the significant role you and your profession play in the lives of our people. May you serve as models of commitment and dedicated service reflective of the JCI tenet - “That Service to Humanity is the Best Work for Life.”

May your quest for excellence continue! Mabuhay ang TOFP!

In behalf of Philhealth, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the JCI Senate Philippines and the Department of Health for making us an institutional partner since its maiden search in 2007 for the annual nationwide search for The Outstanding Filipino Physicians (TOFP).

Now on its second year, TOFP has become an important vehicle to promote patriotism among our Filipino doctors who have decided to stay and embrace this year’s theme that “serving and caring for our countrymen are the best works in life.”

Based on reports from our nationwide network of Philhealth accredited hospitals and clinics, TOFP has generated so much interest not only among Filipino physicians but the general public as well lauding it as a noble project to promote excellence and love of country.

We are one with JCI Senate Philippines, the DOH and our new institutional partner Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in congratulating this year’s Ten Outstanding Filipino Physicians who have proven their excellence, patriotism, dedication to the medical profession and for their admirable caring and sharing in serving our countrymen.

“Excellence can be obtained if you: care more than others think is wise; risk more than others think is safe; dream more than others think is practical; expect more than others think is possible.”

Guided by this inspiring phrase, The Outstanding Filipino Physicians (TOFP) 2008 Steering Committee literally hit the ground running as it embarked on a noble mission to search for 10 best Pinoy doctors nationwide.

It officially adopted the theme: “Serving and caring for our countrymen are the best works of life,” culled from the 6th tenet of the Jaycee creed that “service to humanity is the best of life.” It is also a patriotic plea to Filipino physicians to stay despite the lure of greener pastures and better opportunities overseas.

With the full support of the JCISP national board led by President Carlos Co and Health;

Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, this year’s TOFP went through its noble task and welcomed the entry of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office as an institutional partner along with Philhealth which is an original corporate partner in the maiden search.

Thus, we implemented a massive information and dissemination campaign using TV, radios and print media including the internet with the TOFP website not only in search for outstanding doctors but also to instill patriotism among countrymen and to bring to the fore the continuing^ diaspora of health workers for the next 20 years. ;

Part of the major thrusts of this year’s TOFP Steering Committee is how to furtherinstitutionalize the annual search that will continue to exist as the “Oscar Award’s for Filipino Doctors” in the years to come even when its founding fathers like Secretary Duque, Philhealth’s Lorna Fajardo and Chairman Sergio 0. Valencia would have left the government service. Thus, we initially tapped the help of Campaigns and Bridges to help market the TOFP even as we passionately endeavored to create a TOFP Foundation in line with our objectives.

We are optimistic, given the Philippine Jaycees’ excellent track record in handing out awards such as The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) by the regular Jaycees and The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) awards by the JCI Senate Philippines that TOFP will continue to have successful run in the many years to come.

My deepest gratitude to our institutional partners and corporate sponsors, the hardworking members of the 2008 TOFP Steering Committee, the eminent members of the Board of Judges and to all those who have contributed to the success of this year’s search.

To the 2008 Ten Outstanding Filipino Physicians, I extend my congratulations for a well-deserved award!

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