I agree, the Navy should have a hospital ship

For the first time, former Chief Justice Renato Corona will be the special guest of the Rotary Club of Cebu (Mother) at the Marriott Hotel this noon. This is the first time that CJ Corona accepted an invitation outside Metro Manila and he also agreed to appear on my TV Talkshow “Straight from the Sky,” which will be shown this coming Monday in SkyCable’s channel 15.

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We read the news report that the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Chairperson Margarita Juico chastised the Philippine Daily Inquirer for reporting that the PCSO Board of Directors improperly received millions in benefits in the year 2010, when the truth was, the PCSO officials sought and secured the approval of no less than Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III for their compensation package.

Should we blame the Inquirer for coming up with this erroneous reportage? If only PNoy prioritized the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) as a bill in Congress, the news agencies would be able to secure the right information regarding the goings on inside government agencies.

I don’t want to go into the details of what the Inquirer allegedly reported erroneously. But we do recall Malacañang issuing an Executive Order (E.O. no.7), which suspended all allowances and incentives for all Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) when the Governance Commission for GOCCs took effect last year. But she still admitted that she received P864,000 per annum as chairperson while the rest of the board received P768,000 per annum.

In effect, what Chairperson Juico is telling us is, the PCSO compensation package is above board. So the question we’d like to ask is… how is this compensation package different compared to another GOCC like the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA)? I’m sure they are not on equal footing. But then if you recall, the PCSO Chair led the charge to discredit the Catholic Church when she revealed the bishops who were given vehicles by the Sweepstakes Office, a charge that smeared the Catholic hierarchy, but did not prove that anything irregular was done.

So the big question I’d like to ask PCSO chairperson Juico is, whether this compensation package that was approved by PNoy himself was a “reward” for a job well-done? If so, what did the PCSO do that has changed since PNoy took over? So far I didn’t hear any great things that the PCSO has done under Chairperson Juico, but she was exceptionally good in tarnishing the image of the Catholic Church.

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When the US Navy Hospital Ship USNS Mercy came to the Philippines, it went to Samar and docked in Calbayog City to help indigent residents there. If you ask me, the visit of the USNS Mercy is one of the good things that are often not given any attention in the news when one is discussing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which is strongly opposed by left-leaning groups, who want our people to suffer so that they would curse our government.

In a report, Capt. Jim Morgan, Pacific Partnership Mission Commander, talked about the humanitarian mission of the US Navy hospital ship as part of its 25th anniversary and had nothing to do with our territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea. I fully agree the USNS Mercy’s role in times of peace is to help the poorer nations allied to the United States with their state-of-the-art medical facilities on board the 1,000-bed ship.

Wonder of wonders… during its short two-week visit to Samar, the USNS Mercy was able to treat 16,000 patients and conducted 270 surgeries, where otherwise those poor Samarenos would never be able to pay for their hospital bills. I was amazed that the USNS Mercy even treated 1,000 animals on board because they conducted some 12 Veterinary Civic Action Program. All I can say is, it is truly remarkable that the US Navy has such a great vessel that could be sent to the front in case of war and be of great use in times of peace.

Because of what the USNS Mercy has done in Samar, Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento urged the Philippine government to invest in a hospital ship with at least 100 beds to reach out to remote areas in the country. Finally, I have heard a sensible proposal from a member of the House of Representatives. Perhaps as a starter, the Philippine Navy ought to turn the old Presidential Yacht RPS “Ang Pangulo” into that small hospital ship. In these hard times, even the United States and yes, including the United Kingdom, no longer have their Presidential or the Queen’s yacht, so why should we maintain one for the Philippines? Our Navy truly needs a hospital ship.

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