Professionals

Sunday, 07 August 2011 14:22

Written by Louie C. Montemar

“The Philippines is a well-known centre of the illegal organ trade and a thriving hot spot for ‘transplant tourism’. From the 1990s until 2008 — when a new policy was adopted — the number of transplants involving organ sales by Filipinos to foreign recipients increased steadily. Many organ sellers from Israel, for example, were brought with the purchaser to Manila for the operations, ” writes Susanne Lundin, Professor of Ethnology at Lund University, Sweden, for Al Jazeera.

What is most unsettling that comes to mind here is the suggested misconduct of medical professionals—“professionals.” For how can something like this happen, Hippocrates, if your disciples are true to their Oath?

Says part of the Hippocratic Oath: “I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.”
Never is such a demanding word, isn’t it? Like Professionals.

What really is a professional? Who are to be considered professionals?

I remember that even here in Manila, when I was young, I noticed the practice of a number of Filipino families proudly declaring to the world that they have “professionals” among their kin by putting marble plate-markers outside their houses, near their doors or main entrances. These markers would specify the name and profession of the person concerned. Kung may lapida ang mga patay, may isa pang marmol para naman sa mga propesyunal na buhay. This practice, I’ve been told, is even more widespread in certain rural areas.

These markers signify, in effect, who are deemed as “professionals” by in the community. Hence, we see these laid out for doctors, engineers, architects, lawyers and even officers of the armed forces or the police.

Now, one can only wonder how a community would react if some put such marble markers for yosi boys, the labandera, and our friendly neighbourhood padyak boys. Bakit nga ba hindi?

But more seriously now, in one province, I have also seen marble plate-markers for teachers. Well, there was a time, our senior citizens recall, when teaching was more highly respected in this country and when the teacher—the Maestro—was the walking village oracle, probably like the Baybaylan of lore and yore.

Today, going by the Professional Regulations Commission’s (PRC) list of licensed and “regulated professions” we see only forty three disciplines which are deemed as producing “professionals” given the knowledge and skill that they require. Perhaps some of the least known of these “professsions” are Customs Brokers, Master Plumbers, Interior Design, and – yes, sweet tooth -- Sugar Technology.

Can you imagine, a house today with a marker outside, declaring “Juan de la Cruz, BS, MS. Sugar Technologist”? That would be sweet—one sweet community discussion piece.

Ultimately, the general perception about professionals reflects a concern for status borne of perceived competence. A more serious reckoning however should bear that one really has to earn one’s label as a professional, through a roster of duly-satisfied clients and, more importantly, a clean (read: ethical) track record.
In the case of many of these so-called PRC-recognized professions and lawyering, or the legal profession, which is under the courts and not the PRC, one finds their practitioners as holding on to certain professional ethics.

For instance, note what Filipino lawyers swear to do via the Lawyer’s Oath, which in part says: “I, do solemnly swear that I will... obey the laws... I will do no falsehood... I will not wittingly or willingly promote or sue any groundless, false or unlawful suit... I will delay no man for money or malice...” We can only hope that most of our barristers still hold on to these words in their most dynamic and colourful worlds.

Living up to such codes or oaths is important insofar as these “professionals” hold certain powers and are supposed to be able to maintain the trust of the public that they should be serving. Who was it that said that with great power comes great responsibility? Power and responsibility, a potent mix for social change.

Tragically, many of our so-called professionals are not given the opportunity, remuneration, and respect that they seek in their own land and so they seek better pastures elsewhere, as it were. Or they simply break their oaths for Mammon.

We can only goad our professionals so much to stay and serve our country, to serve us. Without a comprehensive development plan to organize the utilization of their talents and the strict enforcement of professional rules, we will only continue to lose them in droves to the tide that is brain drain and the tsunami that is irresponsible professional practice.

Just as Hippocrates held the belief that the body must be treated as a whole and not just a series of parts, I posit that a comprehensive plan is needed to maximize the power of our professionals. Here, perhaps, comes the need to seriously talk about a longer term Philippine industrial development plan.
Oh by the way, Juan Miguel Zubiri has seen "the light"—pragmatic or prismatic, who knows? Is that what one may call being a professional?

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