It was a business meeting of the AWESNA-Loma Linda Chapter that started about 7:00 o'clock p.m. preceded by a potluck supper in the Mother's Room of the Loma Linda Fil-Am Church. I didn't see anyone taking notes and I'm not sure if minutes of the meeting was recorded.
After the welcome by Chapter prez Marjorie Reyno, she introduced Dr Elmer Bangloy, AWESNA prez who in turn added his welcome, stating that AUP prez, Dr Francisco D. Gayoba was prepared to answer all our questions. Dr Elmer later announced there will be other similar chapter meetings with FG as guest. Meantime, Advancement Office director Max Cadalig had left for Seattle, Washington, on the same mission of visiting alumni chapters, promoting and responding to queries.
FG inquired if anybody heard/read his report to the Joint AWESNA-EASNAC Convention. I said "Yes," thinking it was the same President's Report Cora brought home with her from Henderson. I was wrong. Very friendly, smiling all the way through the Q&A, FG continued on a conversational, informal Tag-lish delivery. Coupling his remarks with side comments, FG frequently suggested if he was free to reveal more or less regarding sensitive issues. By this he was referring to the lawsuits against the university administration, about 9 in all 6 of which have been dismissed according to him. Needless to say, no verdict is final until those cases have reached the Supreme Court. By this time I sincerely wished a hard copy of his report was distributed for us to read instead. .
I suggested we move on to another topic, in particular the AUP COM building - presently Alumni Hall - and the medicine program that still waits for the approval of the Technical Committee on Medical Education. Way back in 2012, when the TCME would not approve use of the Adventist Medical Center-Manila (formerly Manila Sanitarium and Hospital, also Medical Adventist Medical Center or AMCM) as base hospital for the proposed AUP COM, the General Conference Education Dept team that visited AUP agreed with the administration's recommendation for an affiliation with the Batangas Medical Center instead. Roy briefly interrupted FG stating that we don't have to follow the GC if we believe this would contradict our mission of providing medical education in a Seventh-day Adventist Christian setting.
We could only guess who or what FG had in mind when he chose to speak next on higher education criteria - academic qualification above the baccalaureate degree? - as a guide in the hiring and firing of faculty.
Finally, Q and ;A.
First by Violy Palma regarding the viability of the COM during its first 5 years of operation. FG assured us that projected income will cover all expenses including 6 scholarships. Visits by Daisy Orion and George Egwahke from the General Conference were aimed to ascertain there will be sufficient income to cover expenses, according to FG.
Roy repeated his concern regarding the 4 years of clinical training in a non-SDA environment if we still have the right to call it SDA Christian medical education. At some point Roy read a prepared statement which he subsequently posted on Facebook, here:
'Although AMCM is not in the same region as AUP, AMCM was approved to be the COM base hospital provided it would increase its charity services and beds. According to Pastor Gayoba, AUP had to switch to Batangas General Hospital because AMCM would not be able to fulfill the requirement because of budgetary constraints. In layman’s term, AMCM is not in the business of providing free medical services.
'Our leaders need to revisit the purpose why our church builds and operates hospitals. The SDA Church World Headquarters proclaim, “Through the years, Seventh-day Adventists have generously supported mission through their tithes and mission offerings because they believe the gospel commission. They believe we're called to help the less fortunate, the poor, the sick, and those who don't know about Jesus. (SDA Church World Headquarters)”. '
If we believe in the gospel commission and that “we're called to help the less fortunate, the poor, the sick, and those who don't know about Jesus”, why can’t AMCM offer more charity services? Does it have a quota of patients to treat? '
If it is true that “Seventh-day Adventists have generously supported mission through their tithes and mission offerings because they believe the gospel commission”, is it not the responsibility of the NPUC and the conferences within the region to subsidize AMCM through its tithes and offerings as our church claims?
'Why is expanding an almost non-existent free medical services at AMCM become an impenetrable barrier for a COM base hospital?
'Let me repeat what our church proclaims, “Through the years, Seventh-day Adventists have generously supported mission through their tithes and mission offerings because they believe the gospel commission. They believe we're called to help the less fortunate, the poor, the sick, and those who don't know about Jesus. (SDA Church World Headquarters)"' [end quote].
About the name change to Alumni Hall, "Is it not true," Roy asked, "that it started as a Medical Technology building fundraising campaign or was it really for the College of Medicine building?" Marjorie Reyno, Loma Linda chapter prez, said she wasn't aware of fundraising for a Med Tech Building but only for a Micro-Para lab as an integral part of the COM building. Nevertheless, since her takeover as prez of the AWESNA-Loma Linda chapter, she assured us that her fundraising appeal has been specifically for the medicine program. Lita Calla-Laoayan further objected to the name change to Alumni Hall in light of the fact as far as she was concerned she was promoting fundraising for the College of Medicine. FG offered as an explanation that this will be the first project for AUP funded by alumni. The conversation turned to the nursing building that was named after the late Dr. Eliseo M. Bautista. Be that as it may, asserting that this will be an alumni funded project is incorrect for the simple reason that there has been no prior consultation regarding this naming and alumni funding notion. It is only in FG's mind of putting the responsibility in funding his Alumni Hall building project on alumni.
When asked about the construction cost of the 4,074 sq.m. Alumni Hall, @US$1k per sq.m., amounting to US$4+mil, FG replied that the published price was suggested by the contractor but the correct construction cost is closer to Php24+k per sq.m. This would be equivalent to about US$571 per sq.m. so that instead of US$4+mil, the total cost of the Alumni Hall building project should be around Php98 mil. Still according to FG, total expenditure to date, as reported earlier during the joint convention, amounts to Php97+mil. So is the Alumni Hall completed or near completion?
It was almost 9:00 o'clock pm. Some of us have been here since 5:30 pm or shortly after. I commented briefly regarding the visit about the end of May, three months ago, by Dr Doris Mendoza and my failed attempts to get in touch with her. In any event, we seem to be always lagging behind in fulfilling the TCME requirements instead of being a step ahead of them. Since Dr Doris personally know at least 2 distinguished members of the TCME, I asked FG, as a preventative measure, to save us from much embarrassment consequent to repeated denials, why would she not call one of them requesting for a second opinion, for the sake of a reality check, in advance of their formal inspection if it was worth their coming? She did, according to FG, but the terse reply by one of them - a former classmate at UP-PGH - was, "Write the TCME." What does that mean?
Sadly, following up Roy's concerns regarding Batangas Medical Center, of its non-SDA staff providing four years of clinical experience and mentoring of our AUP COM students, we're being compelled to outsource this vital link in the fulfillment of our mission of medical education within a SDA Christian setting consequent to our Adventist Medical Center-Manila (AMCM, formerly Manila Sanitarium and Hospital, aka Manila Adventist Medical Center) inability, or is it really the unwillingness of administrators, to expand its charity services thus helping us comply with TCME requirements. Inquiring minds want to know, why?
For the record, instead of COM, this should read: Alumni Hall Expenditures Report
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