Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Speak out: Save a planet, plant a Tree By Datu Masiding M. Alonto Jr. Regional Vice President, PhilHealth Regional Office 10
GLOBAL warming and deforestation are interlinked in a vicious parasitic relationship. This is a sad idea which time is unfortunately upon us. In fact, it is estimated that a billion trees are needed to be planted to replace rain forests that have been lost to wanton deforestation. This is for real - we need more trees to stave off the inevitable effects of global warming.
Basic biology tells us that green house gases are emitted when we burn fossil fuel for energy. These accumulate and are trapped in the atmosphere, effectively blocking the heat generated by sunlight from dissipating harmlessly into space. With the process of photosynthesis, leaves of plants absorb carbon dioxide from its surroundings to produce its own food, thereby siphoning off deadly greenhouse gases from circulation.
For three years now, PhilHealth Regional Office 10 has conducted tree-planting activities in various parts of Cagayan de Oro City as part of its Anniversary celebrations. This exercise should not be misconstrued as a perfunctory or ceremonial nod to environmental awareness or political correctness.
A viable solution to a complex problem is simple - plant more trees.
As a government agency mandated to provide financial access to quality health care services to all Filipinos, PhilHealth has a vested interest in safeguarding the environment. Not only would clean air be conducive to healthy lifestyles, it would also lessen pulmonary diseases resulting from foul air. This, in turn, would lessen health care costs that put a strain on health insurance coverage.
In a larger sense, safeguarding the environment is everybody's concern. It is of no moment whether one is the president of a social health insurance corporation or a lowly hobo in the streets of Manila. We all have a stake in ensuring that the ecosphere is habitable and conducive for life. Otherwise, we could not ensure the survival of our species.
In this context, therefore, PRO X's advocacy for tree planting is in tune with its vision of being a premier government corporation that ensures sustainable, affordable and progressive social health insurance, which endeavors to influence the delivery of accessible quality health care for all Filipinos.
PhilHealth strives for the sustainable and affordable delivery of quality health care services by ensuring the financial viability of the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP). Planting trees is one way to attain sustainable commercial logging so vital to progress minus the harmful effects.
PhilHealth works for a progressive social health insurance by leveraging the PhilHealth Capitation Fund (PCF) as a crucial financial factor in government's health care delivery system, thereby influencing major public health policy decisions.
Planting trees is a call to action - it strives to refocus the debate on global warming to actionable initiatives, thereby shaping the form and orientation of public policy to the equivalent of an ecological rescue mission.
PhilHealth wants to be a premier government corporation that will ensure the delivery of accessible quality health care for all Filipinos. Planting trees in order to save the planet would be a positive step in that direction.
A government corporation that promotes ecological good behavior on earth's inhabitants by planting trees deserves no better appellation than PREMIER. Any act to make the world safe from harmful gases would only ensure quality health for its inhabitants and would depress demand for medical care in the long term.
In a larger sense, PhilHealth had always been involved in this planting business. Over the past 13 years, it has continuously sowed the seeds of innovation, creativity and risk taking in pursuit of its mandate - that of providing all Filipinos with quality health care services.
Planting trees, therefore, comes naturally for PRO X.
