‘Victims of a vicious campaign’

This refers to Ramon Tulfo’s column (“Doctors charged with fraud,” Metro, 3/15/14) about the case filed against the incumbent president and four past presidents of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) for allegedly faking the signature of Teresita Manzala, chair of the Professional Regulation Commission, on registration documents submitted to the Securities and Exchange

Commission.

The report’s initial impact on PMA members was indeed devastating. One would think the doctors were ready to mourn the demise of the PMA, except that being intelligent professionals, they, together with people of reasonable minds, chose to withhold their judgments until due process shall have brought to light the truth on the matter.

The accused doctors should be given their day in court. If proven guilty, their attempt to defend themselves could only sink them deeper into infamy. If, on the other hand, they are victims of a vicious campaign and are eventually exonerated, they will soar like angels.

Or even if found guilty, five presidents do not make the PMA. Established on Sept. 15, 1903, the PMA is its 73,000 members and its rich legacy. The association is actually an offshoot of the Manila Medical Society, a group of health providers, which was founded on July 9, 1902, upon the instigation of William H. Taft, the American governor general at that time.

Today, the PMA is the umbrella organization of all medical societies in the Philippines. It is the only affiliated member of the World Medical Association, representing the Philippines.

—SANTIAGO A. DEL ROSARIO, MD,

former president,

Philippine Medical Association