MARCOS R. FOJAS

Dr. Marcos Fojas

By Yoko Ramos-Vingno in Athens, Greece

For his tireless effort in helping his countrymen, in promoting Philippine culture and for being an outstanding Filipino, both in the Greek and Filipino communities, Dr. Marcos Fojas was conferred the “Presidential Banaag” award by Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in December 2002. It is the highest honor given to a Filipino living and working abroad.

In September 2007, he was elected as one of the Twenty Outstanding Filipinos Abroad by the Filamimage Magazine based in Washington DC. This prestigious international Award has been given annually for the past twenty two years now to Filipino achievers living abroad who have made a name for themselves and the Philippines. He is the first and the only one Filipino from Europe to have been given this honor in 2007 as all previous awardees have been from the USA and Canada.

Marcos, a charming and active septuagenarian, is the first and only Filipino doctor here in Greece and still very active in the practice of ophthalmology. Dr. Marcos R. Fojas hails from a big family in Manila. He is the second of eight children of Engineer Angel P. Fojas, Sr and Felisa del Rosario. Engr. Angel P. Fojas, Sr. was voted U.P. FATHER OF THE YEAR in December 1962, as all his eight children were graduates of the University of the Philippines. Marcos graduated valedictorian at the Torres High School and finished with highest honors in college at the University of the Philippines. Dr. Fojas took his medical studies in UP College of Medicine and was on the top ten of his graduating class. He passed the Medical Board Examinations and became a resident in the Department of Eye Ear Nose and Throat at the UP Philippine General Hospital. He also became an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the UP College of Medicine.

I met Dr. Marcos Fojas through my Greek cardiologist, Dr Helen Marcoyannopoulou, his wife of 48 years, herself an accomplished practitioner of medicine being a world renowned cardiologist and is a 2008 Department of Science and Technology (DOST) balik scientist awardee. Also, she is one of the world’s renowned sixty seven experts in the Metabolic Syndrome.

Marcos and Helen met in London while on scholarships pursuing post graduate studies in their respective fields. Marcos was granted a Colombo Plan Scholarship while Helen, a Consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital, was a recipient of the Alice Hamilton Fellowship of the International Federation of University Women (based in the United States. Helen joined Marcos when he returned to the Philippines where he had a successful and rewarding private practice in Manila. Helen also practiced in Manila where she became a well known cardiologist in UP PGH Manila and was appointed as faculty member of the UP College of Medicine.

Years later, Helen, an only child, had to return to Greece to take care of her elderly parents. In full understanding of the situation and love for his young family, Marcos followed Helen and children to Greece even if he was not sure what kind of life awaited him in Greece.

In Athens, Marcos at first had difficulty adjusting to the Greek way of life. An intelligent and practical man that Marcos is, he did a “do as the Romans do” and immediately he immersed himself in the Greek way of life and emerged victorious overcoming his initial difficulties. He learned the language and the Greek culture easily and he was able to get his licensures to practice his medical profession with the help and support of Helen. She was also responsible for his appointment as a Consultant to the biggest general Hospital which is the Evangelismos University Hospital.

“Dr Fojas did not only break the barrier but was able to integrate and establish a very successful practice as an ophthalmologist whose patients were mainly Greeks. He attributes this big success above all, to the full and solid support of his wife, to his rigid training in the University of the Philippines and to his practical experience in Manila and more importantly having in him the well known Asian virtue of providing tender loving care to patients. Consequently, his being Asian and the professional and qualitative care he provided to his patients became his assets and brought more patients. His first two surgeries, considered “hopeless” by other colleagues, were successful and word got around Athens about this Asian ophthalmologist who was performing “miracle cures” thus attracting more patients” according to the Filipino Magazine in DC, USA.

Dr Marcos Fojas was loved and adored by his patients and respected by his colleagues. He projected a very positive image of his country. Through his numerous satisfied patients the Philippines and Philippine Medicine became known to the Greeks and Greek physicians who knew very little, or none at all, about our country at that time.

In 1971, the Fojases got an invitation from the World Health Organization to restructure the Congo General Hospital’s Ophthalmology and Cardiology Deparments. They moved the whole family again in Kinshasa in the Republic of Zaire. Marcos was the Chief and Director of the Department of Ophthalmology and Helen was the Chief of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. Before their term expired in 1973, they were conferred the “Grand Ordre des Medicins du Zaire” by the President for their outstanding services to the people of Zaire.

When they returned to Greece Dr. Fojas resumed his medical profession. He had done it before. With loyal patients and having earned the respect of his peers in the medical field plus the acceptance of the Greek populace, he was able to practice again in Athens

Having now become an esteemed Filipino Ophthalmologist in Greece, Marcos became an inspiration to other Filipinos working in Athens and at the same time becoming like a father figure to the Filipino in Greece. Marcos and Helen extended free medical services and other assistance to distressed Filipinos, since there was no Philippine Embassy in Greece at that time.

Marcos became more active in the affairs of the Filipino community. He is a founding member and President of the Board of Trustees of the Katipunan Philippines Cultural Academy (KAPHILCA) from 1997 to 2005, the first Filipino Community School in Athens which gives formal Philippine education to the children of Filipinos working in Greece. KAPHILCA teaches Philippine culture and traditions and language of Pilipino. It also aims to encourage their young minds to keep their Filipino identity. In June 2006, the Philippine ambassador, HE Rigorberto D. Tiglao, appointed him as Special Adviser on KAPHILCA affairs.

Marcos and Helen Fojas have indeed accomplished a lot by any standards. They live a good life. Both are in good health and continue to pursue successful medical practice with two wonderful sons who are now professionals and equally successful. The two sons are following the footsteps of their parents. Dr Angel Constantino, who will inherit his father’s practice, is a graduate of the University of Bologna-Faculty of Medicine while George, a graduate of the Florida Institute of Technology is pursuing a career in business.

Marcos now travels a lot with Helen. He accompanies her in different regional and international Cardiovascular Congresses where she presents papers on a device she invented that detects very early hardening of the arterial wall (arteriosclerosis) thus being very useful in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The couple wants to give more and share these blessings to the less fortunate. Also, they made it their mission in life to promote Helen’s advocacy to have a healthy society through exercise and diet which are the key factors for living a good and healthy life.

[This article originally appeared in Roots and Wings: The Filipino Magazine in Europe, Spring 2010 edition.]