Former Administrator Robert Lizardo Seares was an honoree of The Outstanding Filipino Physician (TOFP) Posthumous 2021 given by the JCI Senate Philippines in partnership with the Philippine Medical Association.
The posthumous award was conferred to the former Administrator and 19 other physicians during the Medicine Week via a virtual awarding ceremony on September 22.
Dr. Seares of the Abra Medical Society was a medical doctor from the province of Abra, a Doctor to the Barrios and consultant and chief surgeon of the family-owned hospital in Bangued, Abra. He finished Medicine at the Far Eastern University and passed the Medical Board exam in 1969. He had more than five decades of service to his name in the medical field, including seven years as consultant, one year as chief surgeon and three years as Physician at the Dr. Petronilo V. Seares Memorial Hospital in Bangued, Abra.
Doc Banting, as he was fondly called by his provincemates, served as the Municipal Mayor of Bangued, Abra for six years in the 80s. After his term, he went back to medical service as consultant at St. James Hospital in Vigan City, and likewise served as Municipal Health Officer in the municipalities of Penarrubia and Lagayan all in Abra.
In February 2017, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte appointed Doc Banting as the 10th Administrator of the National Tobacco Administration, the sole government regulatory agency for the tobacco industry.
He had said that being in the medical profession will not stop him to help the tobacco farmers earn a good profit of their produce. His appointment as administrator gave him the full responsibility to help the tobacco growers to improve their lives with the help of the government and other industry major stakeholders.
He declared that the Farmers First Policy be accorded utmost importance under his leadership, ensuring that the benefits derived from the tobacco industry shall be channelled back towards increasing productivity and uplifting the lives and welfare of tobacco farmers and their communities.
When Doc Banting died in March 2020 after three years at the helm of the agency, he left various projects and programs that promise more benefits to the local tobacco growers, such as the Farm Mechanization Project, the Beef Cattle Production Assistance Project, and the finalization of the Sustainable Tobacco Enhancement Program, a five-year development program for growth anchored on the twin targets of increased productivity and increased farmers’ income.