Dr. Enrique T. Ona

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Sec. Enrique T. Ona

Secretary Enrique T. Ona was born on June, 4 1939 in Sagay City, Negros Occidental. His parents hail from Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur where his father became the first Provincial Health Officer and his mother served as a puericulture nurse.

He graduated from medical school at the University of the Philippines in 1962. He further extended his medical and nephrology training abroad where he earned a medical license at the State of Massachusetts, USA.

Sec. Ona belongs to the DOH family having served as the Executive Director of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) from 1998 until his appointment on July 1, 2010 as the new health chief. He is recognized as one of the top surgeons in the field of vascular surgery and organ implantation. He is also a dedicated advocate of preventive nephrology in the country. He is currently the President of the Transplantation Society of the Philippines, a position he holds since 1989 and also the President of Maria Corazon Torres Javier Foundation from 2009 to present.

Because of his dedication and contribution to health, Secretary Ona has been the recipient of various prestigious awards including the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardees for Medicine in 1979, The Presidential Award of Recognition in Organ Transplantation in 2000 and the Outstanding Health Research Award by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development presented last July 19, 2010.

It was during his residency abroad that he met his beloved wife, Dr. Norma Martinez, an equally successful and nationally renowned hematologist. They are blessed with four boys namely, Arsenio Kenneth, Enrique Stanley, Victor Gabriel, and Manolo Steven.

As a family man, Dr. Ona spends most of his time off at home playing with his grandson or indulging himself in a game of tennis or golf. Family and friends fondly call him Manong Ike, and they describe him as kind and generous.

NKTI staff describe the Secretary as a “strict but lenient chief.” They recall that during his tenure at NKTI, he arrives between 8-9 am and leaves around 7 pm. At the end of the day he sees to it that everything is accomplished and every paper signed before leaving for home. “No stone is left unturned,” they say.

With his job as Secretary of Health, he promises to develop action plans with measurable and verifiable targets for the next six years, including estimated annual resource requirements and performance benchmarks.