Captain without a ship - Marcos clan mayor at eye of Philippine storm

TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Minutes before a tsunami-like storm surge slammed into the Philippine coastal city of Tacloban, a tall man in a motorcycle helmet strode along the shore through ferocious typhoon winds.
Mayor Alfred Romualdez, 51, was wearing the headgear to protect against what he called a wind so strong "it would take your eyes out." He didn't see the wall of water coming and was lucky to survive the catastrophe that killed at least 819 people there and 3,633 across the central Philippines.
The disaster not only flattened his city, it also dredged up a history of enmity between his political clan, led by shoe-loving former First Lady Imelda Marcos, and the family of President Benigno Aquino -- the country's two most influential political families.
President Aquino, under mounting criticism over his handling of the disaster, has sought to deflect some blame toward Romualdez's administration, whose staff and security forces have been decimated by the storm.
"It appears (Tacloban) was not that prepared, let's just say, compared to other areas," Aquino told reporters in Manila a day after the typhoon hit.
The mayor's wife, formerly a sultry B-movie star and now a Tacloban city councilor, held a tearful news conference in Manila, apparently prompted by Aquino's remarks. "This is not politics," said Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez, her voice breaking.
The finger-pointing, however, is sure to worsen as the typhoon's official death toll rises to nearly 4,000 amid unrelenting recriminations over poorly enforced evacuation orders and tardy relief efforts.
Super Typhoon Haiyan turned Tacloban into a corpse-strewn ruin and made Romualdez - nephew of Imelda and the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos - its most prominent survivor.
It has also stirred up difficult questions over whether the Marcos clan's history of bad blood with the current First Family has hindered the often chaotic rescue and recovery efforts and whether politics had a role in one of the country's worst natural disasters.
President Aquino's father, also called Benigno, was assassinated on his return from exile in 1983 when Ferdinand Marcos was president. The Marcos government said it was a lone gunman who broke through security and shot Benigno Aquino dead on the tarmac.
The corruption-riddled Marcos regime was overthrown three years later by a "people power" revolution, fuelled by Benigno Aquino's death and led by his late mother Corazon.
CAPTAIN WITHOUT A SHIP
The Romualdez-Marcos clan have long had a political stranglehold over Tacloban. Hanging in City Hall is a typhoon-tilted portrait of the man Romualdez replaced as mayor in 2008: his father Alfredo, who held the position for nine years.
Imelda's birthplace of Tolosa, a short drive south of Tacloban in Leyte province, was badly affected by the typhoon. The former first lady was crowned "The Rose of Tacloban" as a teenage beauty queen.
Romualdez has defended his preparations for the storm, which he said were approved by national government officials at a meeting 24 hours beforehand. "They said everything was okay," he told reporters at the battered City Hall on Friday, his voice hoarse from days of shouting and little sleep. The odor of a nearby open-air morgue wafted through the broken windows.
The typhoon overwhelmed the city's government operations.
A week later, an average of only 70 city officials, many of whom lost homes and loved ones, were showing up for work each day, compared to a staff of 2,500 before Haiyan struck.
Romualdez now resembles a captain without a ship, trying to marshal meager resources while the national government, aided by U.S. military might and international aid agencies, increasingly takes control of resurrecting his city. Romualdez has complained that Aquino's government is undermining him, citing a request from Manila to declare the city administration dysfunctional so the national authorities can take full control.

Trimm Receives ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award

Dr. R. Franklin Trimm, professor of pediatrics at the University of South Alabama, was recently selected as one of a small group of medical educators from across the United States to receive the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award.

Dr. Trimm will be presented the award at the Annual Education Conference of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in National Harbor, Md., in February 2014.

This award, given by ACGME, honors residency program directors who find innovative ways to teach residents and to provide quality health care while remaining connected to the initial impulse to care for others in this environment.

“I am humbled and honored to be a recipient of this award, which represents the values that have made being involved in graduate medical education a very rewarding journey,” said Dr. Trimm, who has directed the pediatric residency training program at USA for the past 20 years.

Parker J. Palmer is the author of the book The Courage to Teach and whose promotion of the concept of "living divided no more" has proven relevant to teaching in academic health centers.

“The supportive environment USA has provided me has been vital to my involvement in innovative educational activities and career development that are recognized with this award,” said Dr. Trimm.

For additional information on the ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award

College of Medicine Admissions

Thank you for your interest in the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. The medical school is a part of the Division of Health Sciences and a component of the USA Health System and the only academic health center along the central Gulf Coast.
The College accepted its first students in 1973 and is noted for the excellence of its educational and research programs. Seventy-four medical students matriculate each year, selected from more than 1100 applicants. A doctorate level graduate program in Basic Medical Sciences was established in 1978, the first Ph.D. program at the University of South Alabama.
Current accredited postgraduate residency training programs exists in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Orthopaedics, Pathology, Pediatrics,Psychiatry, Radiology and Surgery and fellowship programs in Gastroenterology, Infectious Disease, Pulmonary & Critical Care, Surgical Critical Care, Neurophysiology, and Sports Medicine (Family Medicine) and (Orthopaedics). Interdisciplinary Centers of Excellence include the Center for Lung Biology, Center for Healthy Communities, Center for Strategic Health Innovation, and the Sickle Cell Center.
I invite you to explore this website to learn more about our programs in medical education, biomedical research and patient care.