EDITORIAL - Cause for regret

When it rains, it really pours. And no one must be realizing this more than the Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House. First it was just one case of a baby whose lips were taped shut. Then came another case of a second baby with a pacifier taped in place in its mouth. Now there is yet another case, a third.

Since it is becoming apparent that pacifiers are being used on babies, with tapes to hold them in place despite earlier denials by both the hospital and members of its management and staff, it is only safe to assume that more cases might be surfing soon, with one undeniable effect -- placing the hospital on the spot.

As how the mother of the second baby explained, she surfaced and posted pictures of her baby with the pacifier taped in place on Facebook because she was appalled by the brazen denials made in connection with the first case, the implication being that maybe it was the parents themselves who did the taping.

As we said earlier in this space, it was a big mistake for the hospital not to seize control of the situation immediately, preferring instead to retreat into its shell and stayed inaccessible, unmindful of the reality that in this day and age, anything can spread like a virus and become uncontrollable.

Had the hospital opened itself to the parents of the first baby and called them in for a dialogue and sought a win-win solution, it is doubtful if this controversy would have become the humongous public relations nightmare that it has now become.

Not only that, with an inter-agency task force now investigating, careers and professions could very well be on the line -- and all because the hospital not only refused to recognize the possibility that it may have erred but, more importantly, adamantly refused to own responsibility in case that it did.

As we said earlier, institutions and businesses, especially those involving highly sensitive matters, much always approach negative incidents positively. Only in so doing can they seize the opportunity to take control of the situation, no matter how dire it may seem at first.

A classic example of public relations done professionally is that practiced by one Philippine airline. This airline does not wait for the media to come calling when it gets wind of something. It reaches out to the media at once, to the point of sometimes catching the media unaware.

In this way, no matter how the media may report a particular case, the airline has already provided it with the relevant facts that it feels the public may need to know. In this manner, it is able to project the picture it wants to by eliminating conjecture and speculation. Openness is what wins cases in the end.