Bespeak Secretary Esperanza Cabral

by Roger B Rueda

Secretary Esperanza Cabral, a cardiologist and clinical pharmacologist, is a very quick-witted cabinet member of the present administration. And for that I hope that Mr Aquino, the president-apparent, will insulate her from politics.

At first glance, Dr Cabral, we can say, has a lot of experience in health care and welfare issues that makes her a good fit for Department of Health. She has been the nation's leading advocate for the health and welfare of all Filipinos since her appointment as welfare and social development secretary.

As the country's highest-ranking health official, she is a powerful voice for reforming some health systems which I believe need to be changed and it needs a brilliant health secretary to do such changes.

I am happy because she is free-thinking and that she believes that this country needs condoms to popularise birth control and the awareness of Filipinos about HIV/AIDS in a country with diffident thinking or is influenced by a religion whose teaching is so orthodox and which for being so has been left behind by time. I believe that after years her advocacy would reap its favourable outcome.

On ANC’s Dateline Philippines she said, “Of course, I am afraid of the Church. They are very powerful and they can sometimes be very vicious. I’m not exactly one who likes to live dangerously, but I’d rather live dangerously than do nothing.” It is a brilliant answer, is it not?

When I watched her interviewed by Boy Abunda on his TV programme, Bottomline, I really appreciated her wit and soundness. Her defenses and ideas were satisfying and meant.

Too, on the programme of Anthony Taberna on ABS-CBN. The issue was about the disclaimer of herbal medicine. Since then, I have noticed the disclaimer--"No Approved Therapeutic Claims"--could have a vague meaning to a lot of people: to an ordinary person the word "therapeutic" is too hard for him/her to understand or he/she might interpret it in a wrong way. Herbal and dietary supplements are not officially classified as drugs, so Dr Cabral's translation is correct: "Ang (name of product) ay hindi dapat gamiting panggamot sa anumang uri ng sakit." Dr Cabral believes that Filipinos are led astray by the pushing advertising of some of these supplements, especially when a celebrity endorses them.

Herbal and dietary supplements correspond to a growing billion-peso business in the Philippines. The herbal phenomenon is part of a larger "alternative medicine" movement, which seeks to utilise both New Age and traditional methods of disease prevention and treatment. But are herbal and dietary supplements safe? Who knows they are/they are not? So, Dr Cabral's translation is the proximate one I think herbal product companies in the Philippines should adopt. This is not putting them away, but it is a right step to show how our government health department rides herd on its people health and welfare. Have their cures had proven medicinal effect? Of course, there has been none so far.

Dr Cabral is a conversationalist and uses her skills to make the public more abreast of health and diseases so that they can make better decisions. She is diligent and honest. So, I think she is still the best one that the new administration will need when it starts in July. I hope Mr Aquino will do the right thing by bespeaking her for his cabinet.