High price of success

Oh dear. There’s talk that the medical social services of the Philippine General Hospital will no longer endorse the requests of both doctors and patients to avail of free medicines from the Give a Life Foundation, a project that has won the Grand Anvil award of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines.

Worse, doctors will be penalized by PGH if they dare tell the parents of sick children to deal with the foundation, the same way project officer Philip Cruz has been sanctioned with the withholding of his clearance as chief resident. Without the clearance, Dr. Cruz will not be able to graduate.

As everybody knows, Give a Life was started in 2002 when an anonymous donor gave the seed money to help indigent children confined in the PGH Pediatrics Ward. Dr. Cruz kept the ball rolling, dipping into a surprising deep well of generosity from private individuals and corporations.

The success of the fund-raising campaign has caused, to a large extent, tremendous internal friction within the medical arm of the University of the Philippines. To cite one example, the foundation began to help children-patients confined in other government hospitals, a practice that the PGH administration frowned upon.

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Bank notes 1: Technically, Land Bank of the Philippines president Margarito Teves can claim to be about P4.5 billion richer. After all, Gary Teves has received notice that the National Government is remitting the amount as payment for the bank’s advances to the agrarian reform program. Uh, the notice of payment has not yet been translated to cash.

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Bank notes 2: Friends of Lazaro Bernardo Tiu managing director Romeo Bernardo – he’s a truly nice guy, have been teasingly asking for a treat or balato (breakfast, lunch, or dinner?) when LBT gets its commission as financial advisor of the India-based Ispat Group, which won the multibillion-peso bid to rehabilitate National Steel Corp.

Aside from Romy Bernardo, the consultancy firm’s triumvirate is made up of former Energy Secretary Delfin Lazaro, currently on loan to Ayala Corp., and former Energy Undersecretary Helen Tiu.

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In a break from tradition, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions is holding the Manila F.A.M.E. International trade fair from Monday to Thursday this week to accommodate the tight schedule of foreign buyers currently making the rounds of Asian countries.

Traditionally, the twice-a-year trade fair starts on a Thursday and ends on a Sunday, allowing locals to see what beautiful home accessories and furniture the country exports.

By the way, the last day of the exporters’ trade fair is the first day of AquaLink 2004, inspired by a question raised by Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. while attending AgriLink 2003. Cito Lorenzo’s obvious question? Why isn’t there an annual trade fair for companies engaged in seaweeds, milkfish, tilapia, and prawns?