Doctors’ convention ends on a happy note

In the year that was, the Inquirer (doctors’ favorite newspaper) was replete with embarrassing reports about some Philippine Medical Association (PMA) members reneging on their civic obligation to pay taxes. And PMA leaders and former presidents were reported to be divided into hostile factions; some of its former presidents were even cited by the Professional Regulatory Commission as forgers. And for the first time in 111 years, the very foundation of the first national association of doctors in the country, which was established by the Americans in 1903, was shaken.

From May 19 to 23, 2014, participants of the PMA national convention held in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, resolved to address the animosities plaguing the organization’s leadership. Apparently, the delegates succeeded in appeasing the warring parties so the annual affair ended on a happy note.

Dr. Ben Arca, one of the regional directors of the Department of Health, inducted Dr. Minerva Caliniag and the newly elected officers into office. President Leo Olarte gave his valedictory address; the new president swore before God that on her honor she will obey and defend the constitution and bylaws of the PMA, and then she proceeded to deliver her inaugural address.

The responsibility of clearing the organization of the “disarray” from last year’s “turbulence” was relegated to the PMA Commission on Ethics composed of its former president Dr. Santiago A. Del Rosario, as chair; and professor Dr. Edna Munson, physician-lawyer Teresita Ramirez-Sanchez, physician-lawyer and professor Peter Ng, physician-lawyer Jose Montemayor and Dr. Ferdinand Cercenia as commissioners.

—SANTIAGO A. DEL ROSARIO, MD,

former president,

Philippine Medical Association