Valedictory Speech 2011
A year ago to this day, I stood before you to deliver my inaugural speech. Today, I am here to say goodbye and transfer the responsibility of steering ICD forward to the new set of ICD officers led by Fellow Rosita Tan.
There were 2 things I wanted to address during my term: first the Gawad Kalinga Project where we were given the responsibility of taking care of the oral health of the residents of 1,900 GK Villages, and second, the identification and understanding of the problems confronting Phil. Dentistry.
As far as the GK is concerned, all the groundwork has been laid. I have met with PDA Pres. Fellow Tajonera and his chairman for Community Outreach, Fellow Angelo Fernandez. They are now mobilizing all their chapters and affiliates to work with GK. We have met with the deans thru the Phil Association of Dental Colleges (PADC) and its chair Fellow Turing de Leon, I am very optimistic that all dental schools will soon adopt a GK Village for their community dentistry programs.
We still have to meet with our colleagues from the government sector where no coordination has been established as yet. But let me thank Fellow Vicky Pangilinan and Fellow Baby Rosero for pinpointing who we have to meet and coordinate with. I have been given the blessing by our incoming president to do follow up activities pertaining to Gawad Kalinga, and so the work goes on.
Let us not forget that our ICD-GK Village is far from complete. Drs. PRIMO and Felipe Gonzales are leading efforts to resolve the problem regarding the right of way to our GK Village. Very soon we hope that we can start building our first house.
The second item I wanted to pursue was ICD tackling the problems of Phil. Dentistry. We conducted a forum entitled, “ Problems of Phil. Dentistry” for our 2nd Quarterly Mtg. This is in line with what Prof. Philip Dowell said that “The founders of ICD intended that the College would apply itself in areas where a need exists.”
After the forum, we all realized that Philippine dentistry has indeed so many needs to attend to and identifying these was at least a start. But as I emphasized time and again, being the crème de la crème among Philippine dentists, a lot more is expected of us. Remember that we are the only professionals who can order the most powerful men and women of the land to open their mouths and be under our control while seated in our dental chairs. If we are to make a difference we need to use that “power”. We the ICD Fellows have the experience, expertise and connections to make a difference. But we need to make time to do so.
My late father, Master-Life Fellow Rufino N. Achacoso, always taught us that we cannot live for ourselves and that excellence begins with each one of us, that we should not settle for second best but constantly strive for the best.
He pursued his vision of what Philippine dentistry should be with a passion and never hesitated to share his knowledge and expertise with others. My father emulated what Fellow Richard Galeone, Editor of USA Section of ICD said, “A leader is a person with a vision of the possible, a plan to achieve that vision and a passion which convinces others to share in the adventure.”
My father is gone now but I call on all of us to follow the path he pointed us to; to venture out of our comfort zones and start addressing the problems confronting our noble profession.
Before I took over as president I consulted with some of our fellows, Dr. Crispin Ramos from the north, Dr. Luis Uy from the south. Dr. Joseph Macasiray , Dr. Marlyn Leung and Dr. Bob Eustaquio from NCR and a few more. They all agreed that ICD can do more to upgrade Philippine dentistry. We shared the vision of converting our meetings to thinking sessions and not just listening ones. And so I pose this challenge to our new set of leaders. The vision is there. Let’s formulate our mission towards an implementation stage since there are a lot of us eager and willing to sit down and do something.
To our dear partner UNILAB thru Mr. Chito Sta. Maria, Ms. Joy Ong, Mr. Alex Chua and Mr. Ricky Santos. MARAMING SALAMAT PO! All our projects have been made possible with all your support. I’d also like to acknowledge Mr. Mel Rivera of DENTSPLY Phil for sponsoring our FORUM on PROBLEMS OF PHIL. DENTISTRY. To all my officers my deepest appreciation for all your support as well as to all fellows for being a part of us.
Congratulations to our new fellows – we will be expecting a lot from you! Do us proud.
I thank the body for entrusting me with the presidency for 2010-2011. I thank the Lord for giving me the strength to carry on and I thank my father for serving as my inspiration and my husband for being there for me. Thank you and Good evening!