“AGR’s fight vs. the Big C is an uphill battle”- Tagum surgeon

jan 20-26, 2011

Commenting to the survival chances of District 1 Congressman Anthony del Rosario following his chemotherapy treatments and stem cell transplant, a known surgeon in Tagum City opined that the congressman based on news reports is still well on an uphill battle against the Big C- cancer.

The doctor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that even if the congressman has successfully underwent the stem cell transplant “there is still that possibility for recurrence later.”

Stem cell transplant is a new treatment used to cure persons inflicted with hodgkin lymphoma cancer.

“In both old and new medical technologies, we (doctors) cannot tell in all certainty unlike in engineering that engineers can compute details and effects with precision. There are just so many variables that you have to consider before declaring with faith and hope that the cancer patient is off of the disease,” the surgeon said.

“New medical technologies might work in our expectations, but the same, we can only have faith and hope,” he added.

He though wished that Cong. AGR who was treated byStanfordCancerCenter, a known cancer specialty hospital in the most advanced country in the world, theUnited States, is now completely healed of his hodgkin lymphoma cancer.

Governor Rodolfo del Rosario earlier said in a media forum that his son congressman will be coming home by June “hopefully”if nothing unexpected would happen in his continuing medical checkups following the stem cell transplant and chemotherapy treatments. (cha monforte)

Filed under: Congresman Anthony del Rosario, congressman anthony del rosario

AGR WILL GO HOME JUNE NEXT YEAR – RGR

Dec 9-15, 2010

From what was recently declared to be January 2011, so it would now be June 2011 or another six months from now that Davao del Norte District 1 Rep. Anthony del Rosario (AGR) will be returning home.

Congressman Anthony del Rosario

This was bared no less than by his chief of staff Raffy del Rosario during the special edition of Kapihan sa Kapitolyo at the Capitol, Mankilam, Tagum City Tuesday last week.
Raffy said that the congressman would have wanted to go home but was advised by his doctors to take full recuperation as long hours of travel would not be good for his health.
“You can ask him if my word is not good enough,” he told members of the media who pressed, based on public demand, for a black and white doctor’s clearance stating the congressman’s clean bill of health from cancer.
At the latest in separate interviews with the Valley & City Chronicle, Governor Rodolfo del Rosario said and his provincial administrator Rufo said that Cong. AGR was expected to be back by December 2010.
But later the press releases from the provincial information department on the inauguration of AGR’s congressional office in Tagum City, adjacent the Water District office had quoted Raffy saying his older brother would go home by January 2011.
During the recent Kapihan, Raffy renewed his declaration that AGR is now completely free of his Hodgkin lymphoma cancer following his second series of chemotherapy treatment and stem cell transplant.
“He is just now recuperating in the U.S. but he would be back in June next year.” he said.
He said he would ask AGR to show a clean bill of health as proof that the former is now free from cancer.
The congressman has been official leave of absence starting the very first day of office of congressmen and elected officials nationwide July 1, 2010 following the May elections.
Meanwhile, Raffy said that projects of the congressman will soon take off as an initial P12.5 million funds will be made available before the year ends.
“He doesn’t have to be in the office for the money to be released,” he added.
Part of the P12.5 million will be spent initially to fund the concreting of Asuncion-San Isidro Road and other projects which are part of the One Million per Barangay Program of the congressman.
Among other projects for funding next year are farm-to-market roads, rural electrification projects, water system and computer units for schools, he said.
He also said the First District Congressional Office will also be receiving the P70 million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) share given to each member of the House of Representatives.
For barangay projects, Raffy said that projects considered for funding are those approved by the Expanded Barangay Development Council (EBDC) but he explained that the Congressman is the one giving the final approval for projects he would be funding. (Rural Urban News/Cha Monforte with report of Jean Duron-Abangan of PIA XI)

Filed under: chief of staff Raffy del Rosario, Congresman Anthony del Rosario, Jean Duron-Abangan, chief of staff Raffy del Rosario, Jean Duron-Abangan

RDR welcomes Vincent’s entry

Sept. 16-22, 2010

 

BLOGISTA

By Cha Monforte

The newly-floated RDR’s parlance, government-private partnership, that comes up third in the new thrusts of the Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario for his current second term isn’t really an unsettling reason of concern among the alarmists.I got that view during Monday evening’s interview with him at his Capitol office. The governor’s thinking on the government-private sector partnership doesn’t strictly belongs to the purist sense of the business word partnership, if his Monday’s words were to be the parameter.  Besides that business partnership between the local government and the private sector has still be be worked for long, given the many grey areas and large absence of LGU precedents, and oops with the DBM and COA straightjackets, the governor’s advocacy (I venture to couch his parlance with this term), is now yet about big foreign and domestic capitalists coming in to partner with the provincial government.

The alarmist folks might misconstrue the governor’s third thrust-advocacy. His all-too generic 1st and  2nd thrusts – human development and people empowerment are both doable. These are actually within the domains of the populist and welfare side of governance, that usually play second peddle to the oft-accomplished votes-getting infrastructure projects. The good thing is that the governor in introducing his new three thrusts as focal areas in his second-term administration is making worthy experimentation in trying to come up new best practices for good governance. This might be a flicker that may catch fire and spread like a wildfire, but this can possibly burn bridges along political lines from misinterpretations of those traditionally given the patronage of provincial governance. But not really, since he has also that NOBLE (No Barangay Left Behind) that carts along the P1-million pork barrel of Congresman Anthony del Rosario, promising to give P2 million to every barangay in District 1.

With that skewed funding favoring District 1, the governor should have to allocate more development funds for District 2 along the lines of his three thrusts. By this, he can deliver more political scores and barrel his political clout through the District 2 that has been a traditional bailiwick of former Cong. Tonyboy Floirendo, that district’s political kingpin.

The governor has more leeway “intruding” via his provincial thrusts to the generic Tadeco’s economic-political dominance in District 2, being a provincial governor, of course,  than the former congressman who can only forge temporary alliances with political personages and incumbents at his own business costs. Gov. RDR can have a free ride all over the province, while it’s hard for Cong. Anton Lagdameo to “intrude” in District 1, where his uncle is the political kingpin, without getting political suspicions and for sure COA and DBM flaks if he initiates congressional funded activities.

Back to RDR’s third thrust- government-private partnership. Heard from him that “privatization can come in many forms”.  As to the province’s 2 district hospitals, privatization may come in the form of a “group of doctors” partnering with the provincial government in making better the hospital services. But the governor is still giving chances to the hospitals to improve even while he has been pouring his Philhealth universal coverages to the people in favor to the hospitals. Not now yet. Also, he thought of partnership with the private sector in the scenario of having private businesses and businessmen engaged in environmental projects or agri-business ventures in denuded forestal areas in the province like the denuded strips in Talaingod-Bukidnon road vicinity. Or launch livelihood initiatives for the people with private sector participation. This last rings a bell to the government’s perennial solution- cottage, micro enterprises, that have more guidelines and legal bases than the few success stories they could offer. Again, even joint venture for medium enterprises is a tall order for any LGU to undertake. The bond flotation project, for one, of Nabunturan LGU which asks for private investors is questionable vis-a-vis governmental accounting system. Not, now much more to big enterprises? Questions linger. But I’ll not yet be singing no sad songs for this RDR’s third thrust. Not yet. Let’s just cross the bridge when we’ll get there. But I’m no pessimist to RDR’s experimentation on government-private sector partnership, knowing him to be Don Antonio Floirendo’s right hand man and manager in developing the mega-rich Tadeco banana-based company for quite a long time until that reported family feud close before the 2007 polls.

BLOGS AND BITS: On that Monday evening’s interview, Gov. RDR  has welcomed the planned political entry of the youngest Floirendo siblings, Vincent, who is planning to run as barangay captain in Brgy. Adecor in Kaputian District of IGACOS. He said: “I welcome his coming. It’s about time since the (Floirendo) family has given a lot to the development of Davao del Norte. It’s good that they (Floirendos) would go back  to the province…”. Cut. I just failed to catch his last words, but evidently the governor was referring the return of the Floirendos siblings to the province’s political sphere.   

Another savings-bound infrastructure project that the governor wants to construct is a building at the province-owned land where the provincial engineering component is now based at Igacos. He said the building would serve as a training center of provincial employees and others throughout the region interested to avail its amenities and services. Besides that fees can be collected from the training center as additional income of the provincial government, the PG can save expenses for its HR trainings of employees by making tie-ups with the DILG in forming a training institute peopled by resource persons for various and expertise, he conveyed. For that, RDR’s PG can save a lot.

The Capitol fatso was a no-show last Monday. Or I just didn’t see him around. His fafa seemed to be a media-snub. How onion-skinned of him. No, I first thought that the fatso is a fag. (e-mail: chamonforte@yahoo.com)

Filed under: Congresman Anthony del Rosario, Congresman Anthony del Rosario