Teacher hit by car issued to Osmeña recuperating

CEBU, Philippines - After three months of being in the hospital, the elementary public school teacher hit by a government vehicle issued to City Councilor Richard Osmeña is now on stable condition and recuperating.

But the accumulated hospital bill for the hospitalization of Junrey Sanchez already reached to P1,006,493.39 as of December 2.

Sanchez, a teacher at Banilad Elementary School in Cebu City, is still admitted at a hospital in this city.

He has been there since September 11 when he was hit by the car while crossing Governor M. Cuenco Avenue.

It was not Osmeña, but his driver, maneuvering the car at the time the incident happened.

Sanchez’s wife, Verna, told The FREEMAN that Junrey is now slowly recovering after the accident.

She admitted that their family cannot pay the hospital bills on their own.

Verna also made it clear that she has been coordinating with the staff of the councilor and that the parties involved had set a meeting.

She further requested to reserve her comment until the family can discuss the matter with Osmeña.

Earlier, The FREEMAN received a copy of the statement of account from the hospital bearing the total amount of the hospital bill, covering the charges for room accommodation and nursing care, CT-scan, laboratory, oxygen, medication, among others.

Osmeña, however, questioned the motive behind why such statement was sent to the media.

“Ang pangutana kinsa ang nagpadala diha ug ngano diha man? Politika na sad na,” he told reporters.

Also attached to the photocopied statement of account was a letter addressed to the editor with no signatory and the photocopy of the news clippings of the previous news article related to the vehicular accident on September 11.

In the article published by this paper on September 13, a portion read: “Osmeña assured Sanchez’s family that he (former) would shoulder the hospital expenses.”

“Osmeña said he will discuss the matter with the concerned family when he gets back in the City after his official travel in Paris. The city councilor was one of the city officials who attended the global forum on climate change,” the article read further.

“I will sit down with the family when I arrive to discuss the payment. Though it was not really established who was at fault, I offered help,” he said. — (FREEMAN)