Could it be true? I got a big shock yesterday upon hearing the news that today, the Senate will conduct a hearing, or was it an investigation on the agency called PhilHealth it apparently suspects of some monkey business in its operations. Isn’t that a great shame? If the probe brings out positive results, what should be done with such an agency? Shouldn’t it be dismantled at once and another formed with members who are truly concerned with the health of their countrymen?
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The hearing is scheduled today and I hope I will be able to catch it. But maybe I should even avoid it lest it and those with weak dispositions, as well, as what we may hear may be too much for us to stomach. To think that its members are doctors, professionals who took the serious Hippocratic oath when they entered the profession! Maybe those involved were thinking of another oath, a Hypocritic one, as they raised their hands to swear?
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Of course we are not generalizing. As a whole, our doctors are committed to their profession and go through sacrifices to help their patients. But, well, there are bad eggs in every career, though it is quite demoralizing to hear of them involved in what is not only unethical, but also mercenary. I don’t know if I will have the stomach to listen to today’s hearing, but I still hope that the scoundrels are the biggest minority among them. Anyway, we are not talking now about practicing physicians but those occupying administrative positions in the Department where, alas, temptations must be too strong for the weak of morals.
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By the way, the probe scheduled today is supposed to cover the suspected scandal involving PhilHealth and its alleged favors granted to favored hospitals. We who are in the sidelines must pray that the culprits will be exposed, so that the PhilHealth, created with such a noble purpose, will stick to that and that any kind of collusion between it and hospitals, if proven, will be nipped in the bud, and the guilty ones exposed and put in their proper places.
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Sometimes developments and decisions involving the enforcement of laws and requirements involving this vicious pandemic can also evoke a sense of humor among the people. What, for instance do you think of that requirement of the police that only husband and wife can ride in tandem on their motorcycles? An exception is given for couples who are “living in”. How easy would it be to say you and the one driving the motorcycle are “living in” since you have no official documents to show?
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And what about same-sex couples who really maintain a household, since they are of the same sex? What certificate can they present? Ah, let us take every opportunity to laugh now and then, lest we lose our bearings totally. Another offshoot of that requirement is the puzzle for the police who complain that if they do catch such violators, there is no more space in our jails to put them. Well, there is one thing they can do, just look the other way when such violators come along, anyway they are not committing a grievous crime against society.
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Now, even if we very, very seldom see the face of our President even on TV, let us not feel bad, because he is much more considerate that his counterpart in the United States who does not even conform to the requirement to wear masks. But I think his people need not worry. If they do wear masks, and if he is the only one who doesn’t, who is the most likely to be a COVID victim? And look at him now, I even hear he wants to postpone or delay the elections! Maybe he senses that his people will no longer put him back?
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Even if we don’t often see our own President in person or even on TV these days, it is all right with us because he must be protected from the disease more strictly than any other official. But the President of the U.S., who seems to want to be regarded as a happy-go-lucky one, was reported to be playing golf the other day, and three rounds at that – without wearing a face mask! And he wants to reopen schools as usual, too! As for the Americans who voted for him and are now griping over his decisions and pronouncements, I have another saying: “You made your beds, now lie in it!”*
