Amid Ebola outbreak, Pinoy won’t abandon parishioners

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino missionary has decided to stay and continue to serve the people of Sierra Leone despite the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa.

Fr. Anthony Patrick Santianez, a Xaverian missionary from Calbayog, Samar, said he initially thought of returning to the Philippines to avoid being infected by the virus but his mother and a parishioner convinced him to stay.

He is the assistant parish priest of St. Guido Maria Conforti Church in the Diocese of Makine. He teaches catechism and makes home and community visitations.

Santianez said that while he feared for his safety, leaving behind his parishioners was not an option.

“Honestly speaking, I’m afraid of Ebola. Who wouldn’t be? At first, I considered returning to the Philippines, but a petition by one of my parishioners changed my mind,” Santianez told CBCPNews.

“Father, don’t leave us. Stay with us, because if you leave us we will get afraid more,” he quoted the parishioner as saying.

Santianez said his mother was also instrumental in firming his decision to stay.

He urged the Filipinos to pray for the people in Sierra Leone.

He took up Theology in Ateneo. He went to Sierra Leone on June 24, 2008. In 2011, he returned to the Philippines to be ordained as a priest.

Another Xaverian missionary, Fr. Joeven Matugas of the Holy Martyrs of Uganda Parish-Kabala, works with Santianez.

Although a predominantly Muslim country, Santianez said many people in Sierra Leone adhere to folk beliefs and superstitions, which explains why authorities find it hard to contain the Ebola virus.

“There were five Ebola cases in my parish and all of them died. The problem here is people believe the shamans more than the medical professionals. My parishioners keep telling me that these Ebola victims did not die of the virus, but of witchcraft,” he said.

Ebola cases rising

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that 1,528 Ebola cases were recorded in West Africa, with 844 deaths. The figure does not include 1,087 probable cases.

In a situation assessment report, WHO said families in affected communities in Liberia and Sierra Leone hide their loved ones who are infected by the virus.

“As Ebola has no cure, some believe infected loved ones will be more comfortable dying at home. Others deny that a patient has Ebola and believe that care in an isolation ward – viewed as an incubator of the disease – will lead to infection and certain death,” WHO noted.

In rural villages, corpses are buried without notifying health officials and with no investigation of the cause of death. In some instances, epidemiologists have traveled to villages and counted the number of graves as an indicator of suspected Ebola cases.

Meanwhile, health authorities in the Philippines have implemented stricter measures to fend off the entry of the Ebola virus.

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday confirmed that a Filipino seafarer was being tested for the Ebola virus in Togo, West Africa. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Aurea Calica