MikeLigalig.com

By Loy Palapos

The medical profession is looked up to as a noble calling; and the Doctor is perceived nobler, if he is not limited to the confines of his clinic. There is a big difference between him who goes beyond the call of duty, compared to one who counts the tick of the clock in the comfort of his office, when the rest of mankind cry for his helping hand. Although no blame could be heaped on the eight-to-five professional who performs his responsibilities with efficiency, there is more admiration and affection to him who walks the extra mile to serve his fellowmen.

Dr. Tony Daquipa, just like many who seek economic progress, searched for the greener pasture, and in the process felt the pangs of homesickness and alienation. It was no song being uprooted from one’s native land, and developing links in a foreign soil, but Dr. Tony Daquipa persevered for long continuous years of alienation, until he learned to adjust to his new milieu, and got accepted as a brother in the midst of progressive-minded people. That he has gained acceptance in his community of choice is manifested by his success as a leader. This leadership acceptance is more profound in his involvement with the Lions Club International, whose varied projects transcend the customary organizational humdrum chores usually highlighted by a lavish induction ceremony. True to his profession, and in consonance with the tenets of Lionism in community involvement, he was a prime-mover in some surgical missions from 1996 to 2001. Those outreach programs were made through the auspice of Maharlika Lions Club, thrice in Bohol, once in Lucena and La Union. There are still plans being hatched in some depressed areas in the Philippines. Compassion and service dovetail with Dr. Daquipo’s desire to serve, especially on tasks associated with his profession.

He has been with Lions Club International from 1980 to the present. In 2002 he served as Club President of Sacramento Lions Club, was a Poppy Zone Chairman in 2003, the Sacramento Regional Chairman in 2004 and the Hearing Conservation Chair in 2005. From 2005 until 2009 Dr. Daquipa is a Director of the Northern California Lions Sight Association. Since 1996 he has been a Director of Home Reach Foundation. At the same time he has been designated Lieutenant Colonel of the United States Army Reserve.

Dr. Daquipa saw the light of day at the Bohol Provincial Hospital on May 5, 1940 to parents Benito Daquipa and Nicolasa Salang of Corella, Bohol. He is blissfully married to Nenita C. Bongoyan, also a well-respected physician. He finished his Associate in Arts in Pre-Medicine at Letran College in 1959, and graduated from his Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of Santo Thomas in 1964. That same year he passed the Philippine Medical Board Exam.

He then affiliated with the Bohol Provincial Hospital as Resident Physician, a position he held until 1966. Dr. Daquipa resigned from the BPH in 1966 and went into private practice in Davao. He opted to fly to the USA and was a Rotating Intern at the McKeesport Hospital in Pennsylvania. A year later he held an Anatomic Pathology Residency at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. From 1968 to 1972 he held the position of General Surgery Residency at Fairview General Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. This was made possible when he was awarded a General Surgery Board Certificate (November 23357).

In 1973 he was taken in as Surgery House Physician at Deaconess Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Simultaneously he was an Emergency Room Physician at Fairview Medical Hospital (also at Cleveland) and Southwest General Hospital in Berea, Ohio, a job he held with utmost prestige until 1975.

From 1974 to 1977 he put up a clinic for a private practice in Loraine Road, Fairview Park, Ohio, while enjoying Hospital privileges at Fairview General Hospital, Southwest General Hospital and St. John’s Hospital.

More demands for his expertise came in handy. In 1978 he was offered the job of Medical Director of Galt Cocilio Medical Clinic in Galt, California. A year after he went to Fair Oaks, California as Medical Director of Minor Emergency Group. From 1980 to 1983 Dr. Daquipa became an Emergency Room Physician at the Community Hospital of Sacramento, California. At the same time and until 2004, because of heightened demand for excellence in his craft, he put up the Daquipa Medical, Inc. in Carmichael, California.

Aside from being a licensee by the Philippine Medical Board, he holds the distinction of passing the Medical Board exams of Ohio (1972) and California (1977). He is an active member of the American Society of Abdominal Surgeons, California Medical Association, Sacramento-El Dorado Medical Society, and the Philippine Medical Association of Sacramento.

Despite his success abroad as a surgeon, and with it the concomitant material capacity and comfort, he never forgets Bohol. In 1994 he participated in the Medical/Surgical Mission to the Philippines. The first-hand experience of being able to serve his country triggered a deeper concern for the plight of the underprivileged back home. In 1996, 1999, 2001, and 2003 he organized Surgical Missions to the Philippines. He is also an active Director of Home Reach Foundation, which twice performed heart surgeries to more than 70 Boholano patients.

He joined Lions Club International whose motto “We serve” mirrors his values. He has held various leadership positions in Lions District 4-C5 and through this organization he has given back to his native Philippines 5 surgical missions, wherein American specialists, without any ties or reasons to come to the Philippines, joined him to perform major surgeries to save and change lives of complete strangers. His surgical missions were recognized by Lions Club International as the “Most Significant Project of the Year,” beating four other finalists from four countries. His “Oscar” was presented at the First International Awards of Lionism Gala in Denver, Colorado in July 2003.

His surgical missions involve four major issues. The primary purpose is to provide free surgeries to local indigents who do not have access to surgical care. Four hundred indigent lives have been touched. Secondly, he and his team assist the local surgeons with books and advice on current surgical techniques, to help them gain confidence in their surgical skills. Dr. Tony and his team will never forget the joy and exhilaration they experienced watching the progress of a junior surgical resident in San Fernando who assisted on a thyroid operation on Wednesday and managed to perform his first thyroid surgery by Friday, assisted only by a first-year surgical resident.

The third purpose is to upgrade the equipment of the venue-hospital. Four forty-foot containers with hospital beds and various appliances have been conveniently donated to venue-hospitals and local community centers. During TBTK 1999 he and his wife, Dr. Nenita Cloma Bongoyan Daquipa, a native of Panglao, conducted the first cardio-pulmonary resuscitation session to municipal health officers. They donated an adult, child, and infant resusciAnnies for use by the Bohol Department of Health and 480 Ambubags and a defibrillator to augment the newly organized Bohol Emergency System.

Dr. Daquipa is one of the prime-movers in linking the local Lions Clubs in Tagbilaran and San Fernando in what is called “Twinning,” a process that establishes partners in providing services to their local community, forming networks of caring individuals, creating what Dr. Tony believes is “one world, one heart.”



His children are now all grown up and have chosen the life they want to live. Dr. Daquipa is already a success in this sphere and could have drawn the line to rest on his laurels with nary anybody accusing him of any task left half-done. But his sense of compassion transcends boundaries. He will keep on spreading his wings in whatever capacity he could serve. The mark of a true Christian. In the third TBTK (Tigum Bol-anon sa Tibuok Kalibutan) held in Tagbilaran City, he received the TOBAW (Ten Outstanding Boholanos Around the World) award in the field of Medicine.

published by the Bohol Standard

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