Invest in Pinoy brainpower to stem brain drain - Gibo

by Jaime Laude (The Philippine Star)

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=558977&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Administration presidential bet Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro said investing in the Filipino brainpower and in physical infrastructure could check the country’s “brain drain” of medical professionals, especially in far-flung areas.

Teodoro discussed the wrong assignments of healthcare providers in the country during Presidential Forum on Health held at The Medical City in Mandaluyong last Tuesday night, which was televised live on ANC.

Doctors said 80 percent of Filipinos, most of them in the countryside, are not receiving proper medical attention because 50 percent of doctors are in urban centers if not working abroad.

“This is not solely a healthcare problem, it is also a developmental problem,” said Teodoro, Lakas-Kampi standard-bearer. “If we also invest in education and infrastructure, this can be resolved.”

Lack of infrastructure in remote areas is one of the apparent reasons why proper health attention is not distributed effectively in the country.

Thus, there is a need to enhance the country’s infrastructure system by requiring the integration and convergence of various transport networks, he said.

Aside from the need to improve the country’s infrastructure, he also emphasized the importance of improving the quality of education in the country.

“We must rectify the institutions that provide both in the country for better quality of life and for strategic progress and strength of the country,” he said.

Proper nourishment and food should also come into the picture. Nourishing the population with adequate food security will lead to a healthier populace and thereby reduce the need for healthcare professionals, he said.

“These things, which are so vital and fundamental to the nation’s progress and for human life to exist, are so difficult to tackle at times,” said Teodoro. “But they must be tackled institutionally. We hope we will be able to evolve that system soon. By law, through law, and effectively enforced by the government.”

Meanwhile, administration senatorial bet Raul Lambino supported yesterday the proposal to form an independent body to investigate allegations of corruption, criminal and civil liabilities, and even sex scandals against a sitting president and other top government officials.

Lambino of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD senatorial slate said the independent body like the one handled by Kenneth Starr against the sex scandal involving former US President Bill Clinton will give investigators enough authority to gather evidence to pin down erring top government officials.

The Starr investigation found evidence to prove Clinton’s moral impropriety by engaging then White House intern Monica Lewinsky into sexual encounters, including a blouse with the alleged dried semen of Clinton still on it.

Lambino proposed the creation of the Independent Counsel Office that is different from the US probe body headed by Starr.

“The Supreme Court will appoint the personnel and the Chief Independent Counsel to shelter it from any political influence. No one could pressure or manipulate the agency. It will have complete independence,” he said.

Lambino, who has been teaching constitutional law for more than two decades, said the Independent Counsel Office would also handle cases against presidential appointees, including Cabinet members.