A tale of two PGH directors

The Philippine General Hospital (PGH), the country’s premier state hospital, now has two directors.

Beginning March 1, the PGH has two sitting directors—Dr. Jose Gonzales, who was voted in by the sectoral representatives, and Dr. Eric Domingo, installed by the administration of the University of the Philippines (UP), which governs the PGH.

The Board of Regents (BOR) of the university appointed Gonzales as the new director on December 18, 2010.

The 11-member BOR is the highest decision-making body of the university. It consists of two co-chairs (the Commission on Higher Education chair and the UP president), two seats for Congress (one each from the House and Senate), four organic members each chosen respectively by the faculty, students, staff and alumni, and three non-organic members appointed by Malacañang.

Those who voted for Gonzales were Student Regent Charisse Bañez, Faculty Regent Judy Taguiwalo, Alumni Regent Alfredo Pascual, and Admin Staff Regent Cabrera. Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas also sent a written vote in favor of Gonzales.

Dr. Carmelo Alfiler, who served two terms as director, received votes from University President Emerlinda Roman, as well as Regents Abraham Sarmiento, Nelia Gonzales, and Francis Chua, as well as Rep. Cynthia Villar of Las Piñas City through a letter.

CHED Chair Emmanuel Angeles broke the tie in favor of Gonzales.

Gonzales took his oath of office and started his term effective January 1, 2010.

On January 4, 2010, at a morning flag ceremony, Gonzales was supposed to be introduced to the hospital as the new PGH director, but was instead called to meet with Angeles, where he was told his appointment was to be temporarily put on hold until a protest is resolved.

The protest came from Sarmiento, who was also a former Supreme Court justice, asking the BOR not to consider the student regent vote in light of the claim that Bañez was no longer a UP student and therefore not qualified to serve as the students’ representative in the BOR.

On Jan. 5, Roman issued a resolution appointing UP Manila Chancellor Ramon Arcadio as the officer-in-charge of the PGH.

Last Feb. 25, the UP-BOR, with the three sectoral regents abstaining from voting, nullified the December 18, 2009 election results declaring Gonzales as the new PGH director, named Domingo the new director, and swore him into office the next day.

Student regent vote

In a report by Inquirer.net, Bañez insisted her vote was valid and has filed a motion to stop the BOR from nullifying it.

Bañez said that before the controversial election of the PGH director on December 18, the UP-BOR had deliberated and voted 5-4 in favor of allowing her to vote.

She was not enrolled this school year because she had completed her academic requirements ahead of schedule and was awaiting graduation. She has filed an application for residency for the second semester.

She said the UP administration was only using this technical matter as a “lame excuse” to eject her from the board, noting that two students who filed their applications for residency as late as February but were accepted. “How come they would not process my papers? That is unfair,” she said.

Power play?

Bañez questioned the validity of the votes of the three Malacañang appointees, saying that their terms as “acting and not regular regents” had already expired. She said Roman later recommended a fixed term of two years for the appointees.

In his column, Raul Pangalangan, former dean of the UP College of Law, cites the Administrative Code, Executive Order 292, which provides that “in no case shall a temporary designation exceed one year.”

Pangalangan said Sarmiento himself was appointed on September 29, 2008. “They were all essentially impostors on Dec. 18, trying to oust the student regent who enjoyed an authentic mandate.”

At the December 18 meeting, Domingo was “pulled out” from list of nominees upon a chancellor’s notification that Domingo was not qualified because his appointment in UP College of Medicine was only part-time and non-tenured.

“They were the ones who took him (Domingo) out (of the list) and now they installed him as director. There is a power play going on inside the BOR,” said Bañez.

In a statement, the UP Laban-PGH alliance also noted that the other elected positions decided upon in the December 18 BOR meeting (Prof. Joselito Florendo, as Director, System Budget Officer; Dr. Flordeliza Lantican, as Dean, College of Economics and Management; and Dr. Vicente Medina III, as Dean, College of Dentistry) were not considered null and void.

Defiance of the BOR

In a blog post, Taguiwalo called Roman’s move "illegal, undemocratic and unfair" and a "blatant violation of the University’s standards of good governance."

Taguiwalo argued that Roman’s memorandum cannot supercede a BOR decision and is therefore "in direct defiance of the BOR."

Roman cannot fill up a position that is not vacant even as Sarmiento protested the election of Gonzales, Taguiwalo said. “The presence of such protest, however, cannot overturn the decision already made by the BOR. By refusing to implement a duly approved decision of the BOR, President Roman has prejudged by herself alone an issue that should also be decided by the BOR as a body at its regular meeting. She has no legal or practical justification to withhold implementation of a BOR decision as the term of the previous PGH Director has already expired.”

In the same opinion piece, Pangalangan said Gonzales is entitled to hold office for the duration of his term. In the archaic language of the law of public officers, the “termination of official relations” occurs only upon death or disability, retirement, resignation, expiry of term of office, abandonment, abolition of office, recall or removal for cause. Not a single ground is present in Gonzales’ case, Pangalangan said.

Pangalangan described the unseating of Gonzales as "the Machiavellian manipulation of technicalities to justify just about anything and to maneuver events to get precisely the desired result."

Why oust Gonzales?

In a report by the Business Mirror online, Gonzales said he could not gain the support of Roman because he did not deliver any “gifts or goods” in Diliman where Roman holds office.

Gonzales had been critical of the creeping privatization of the PGH pharmacy, which he described as an anomalous “secret deal” sponsored by Diliman authorities. The PGH pharmacy, Gonzales said, is earning at least P8 million, which supports the charity program of the hospital benefiting the poor patients coming in 24 hours a day. Gonzales said the PGH pharmacy must have its income to sustain charity, Gonzales said.

“They did not want Jogon (Dr. Jose Gonzales) because he was critical of the P77-million faculty medical arts building,” Banez said in another report.

In a special report by Bulatlat, the UP All Workers Alliance also pointed to a multimillion-peso lease contract as the reason for Gonzales’ ouster.

The contract, signed by UP and Daniel Mercado Medical Center (DMMC) through its president and CEO Edwin M. Mercado, is for the construction of the Faculty and Medical Arts Building (FMAB).

Jossel Ebesate, head nurse at UP-PGH and national executive vice president of the All-UP Workers’ Union said that many in UP-PGH had been okay with the first envisioned FMAB when it was largely just meant to house clinics and research offices for lease to UP doctors and faculty members.

Later though, the contract included concessions for pharmacy, laboratory, radiology and other diagnostic exams that would directly compete against PGH’s services, noted the All-UP Workers’ Union. The proposed lease also lengthened from 15 to 25 years, excluding one and a half years for conversion, rehabilitation, and development of the site. The covered area was also broadened from 3,400 square meters to 3,900.

“We protested (against the lease contract) due to (its) possible implications on hospital operations,” said Ebesate. He explained that the PGH pharmacy, which gives PGH some P24 million to P30 million per year for the charity fund for indigents, and pays as well for the salaries of more than 200 employees, risks losing revenues to the looming pharmacy operation of DMMC.

Gonzales is vocal against the FMAB while Domingo supports it.

Photo: UP-PGH Cancer Center c/o Flickr. Some rights reserved.

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