Give us the truth behind the VSMMC case!
For tonight’s special presentation on Straight from the Sky, we continue with our advocacy for good governance and our relentless effort to fight corruption where we can find it. With the re-enactment of the famous Battle of Mactan over and done with, once more we give you the ongoing saga of the Battle of Mactan Part II, a battle that is far from over. Tonight we have with us again, Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (MICCI) President Efrain Pelaez Jr. who will brief our televiewers on the latest happenings in Lapu-Lapu City, more so that the so-called Lamppost scam has already ended with the filing of criminal charges against government officials behind this highly-questionable purchase. So watch Jun Pelaez on SkyCable’s channel 15 at
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Last Wednesday, we wrote that article asking the Department of Health or the head of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) why no new names were added to the old list? It turned out the DOH and the VSMMC did come up with a new set of names that came out together with the article we wrote. They’re Dr. Marlowe Parreno, consultant, Isabelita Remulta, Operating Room Nurse Supervisor, Consuelo Tecling, Senior Operating Room Nurse and Ida Sumayang, Senior Operating Room Nurse on call. So, are these all the names of the people who were inside the operating room when this incident happened?
I’m asking this because of that article written by Ferliza Contratista in The Freeman about a letter sent by Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak of Basak-Pardo alleging that one of the siblings of the medical director of VSMMC was also present during that operation. Is this really true? Perhaps the problem is that we are not getting into the bottom of this scandal because the truth has already been muddled.
That letter last Saturday entitled “Cowardice: The Bigger Scandal at VSMMC” was quite a revelation especially when they wrote: “The YouTube version made it appear that the surgical procedure happened in a breeze in barely three minutes. VSMMC medical records, on the other hand, indicates that the surgical procedure took at least 13 minutes. But the bigger truth is that VSMMC did not have any police measures against the intrusion of outsiders in their Emergency Operating Rooms. Had it not been for this policy and leadership void, there would have been no unlawful intrusion, no damage to the reputation of the doctors or of the patients. But then the public should open its eyes to the bigger scandal at VSMMC, which is the cowardice of its leaders.”
I dare say that most of us Cebuanos jumped into conclusions when we saw the YouTube video, which at best was a “doctored” version to show that there was malice among the doctors. But like what I said in an earlier column, there was a complete video report shown to the General Surgery Department a week later and no one found anything wrong with that video. So this in effect stymies the investigating committee from condemning the medical staff regarding procedural matters. So right now, the only thing we ask of the VSMMC or DOH is to give us the truth about this issue. Surely they all know that the truth shall set all of us free!
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In response to our article last Friday about the DPWH on the
“Good day Sir Bobit. I agree with your recent article about how DPWH Engineers plan (if they ever plan at all) or in general how they work. Part of the “potholes” we see on the roads are basically the result of the corruption instilled on the DPWH Engineers.
Most, if not all, are poorly trained. Yet, if you look at their resumes and the countless seminars they have attended, you’d wonder where these trainings have gone to. It’s really a very, very sad plight. I myself am a civil engineer by profession and believe me when I say “I’m not very proud of our DPWH Engineers”. These people are trained how to ‘steal’ money. Not put it in the project where it belongs to. Only in the
Thanks for this comment Engr. Acasio, but perhaps the saddest part of all is that, many DPWH employees who are not decision-makers and therefore they have not yet been corrupted are unfortunately lumped together with the really corrupt ones as equally corrupt.
Call it corruption by association, which is why we urge DPWH employees who do not want their agency to be known as the most corrupt agency in the government to help in our anti-corruption efforts by exposing those corrupt officials who destroy the name of their organization. By their keeping quiet, they commit the sin of omission. So what are you thinking?
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