Our senators will not dance the cha-cha!

A little over a year ago, the nation lost "Da King" Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ) to aneurysm or anoxic encelophalopathy a condition due to a cerebral hemorrhage, where blood vessels in his brain had burst. By some uncanny coincidence, a year and five days later, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco also suffered a similar fate and died the other day. He was 59 years old. Coincidentally, my father also died at the same age due also to a massive cerebral hemorrhage. This is why in our family... if we hurdle that age and reach 60 years old, we'd call it a big bonus!

You can say that the nation lost a good man in the person of Director Wycoco. I had the opportunity to have a long talk with him at the US Embassy US Independence Day reception where he stood at the corner alone, so I introduced myself and when I told him I wrote columns for the Philippine Star, he immediately recognized me... saying he read my piece especially on that NBI Plantation Bay employee's fiasco. We probably talked for 45 minutes since no one also came to bother the two of us. I also invited him to grace our talkshow... and he responded with a yes if and when he comes to Cebu. But all that is gone now.

At least, we can say that under his watch, he restored our confidence with the NBI, which we lost because of that Plantation Bay brouhaha... where the NBI agents acted like keystone cops. As the old saying goes, "only the good die young!" Indeed, Director Wycoco was taken up by the Lord when he still had so much to accomplish... but then who are we to question the Lord's wisdom? May we request the pious reader to please pray for the repose of his soul.

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Now that the work of the Consultative Commission (ConCom) is done, the more serious work begins... and the ball is now in the court of Congress to see whether they can convince the Senate that changing the Constitution is in the best interest of the nation? So far, as the Philippine Star report yesterday on page 9 showed, the major political parties seem to agree on the need to change the charter.

But then, we still have to pass through the proverbial eye of the needle... the 24 Senators, whose positions may disappear with a new political system. This is where we are right now and it is time for us to count the heads of our Senators as to who is for political reforms and who are against it? Of course, it goes without saying that most of our Senators are against political reforms that would remove them from their powerful offices!

Perhaps the most disappointing of them all is my good friend, Sen. Richard "Dick" Gordon, who when I interviewed him on my show talked like a Cebuano... hitting Imperial Manila for the ills of our nation. But now that he is already a Senator... the winds of change have blown into his face and he is now against charter changes. What of Mr. Palengke a.k.a. "Crush ng Bayan" Sen. Mar Roxas? He too said that he'd even cut his term if we went through with drastic political changes in our system of governance. But now that this potential for change is banging on their doors... they have kept mum about what they think about charter changes.

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There was a story last week about a new program to bring tourists to our country... they call it Medical Tourism. I forgot to write about it until I read Ehda Dagooc's story on this topic yesterday. I don't really know where this idea came from... but basing from Ehda's story, Economist Bernardo Villegas maybe one contributor. While I submit that the Philippines can become a major destination for Medical Tourists... thanks to our stable weather (except during those wet and stormy days) however there are still a lot of things we ought to do before this thing can materialize.

For instance, I'm sure that by now the whole world knows that Filipino nurses are leaving in huge numbers for better and greener pastures. To add to our dilemma, many Filipino doctors have also taken up nursing so they can leave the country. That means... we're having medical centers or hospitals that are most probably understaffed. Consequently that means most of our hospitals are lined up with patients waiting for their doctors.

Then there is also the reality that most of our hospitals are under-equipped. So the question is; how can we attract Medical Tourists from rich countries when we have poor medical facilities and few medical personnel on call? One of the reasons why Medical Tourism is being proposed is that, it would help curb our brain drain. Perhaps in the future this program may reduce our brain drain... but as of now... I doubt if this program will work!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com