As hospital violations pile up, fifth baby surfaces

CEBU, Philippines - After almost a month since the first alleged taping stirred social media, a fifth mother has surfaced claiming that her baby allegedly likewise had a pacifier taped to the lips also at the embattled Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House Inc.

Commission on Human Rights-7 Special Investigator Lilibeth Llona told reporters that the newest mother to complain first  contacted Jasmine Badocdoc, mother of the first baby who had a plaster on his lips  allegedly taped at the CPCMHI.

On May 9, social media was abuzz after Noval posted on Facebook a photo of Badocdoc’s son whose lips were sealed with a plaster.

Last May 24, Chesiel Lyka Arsua also lit up social media with a photo of her baby whose lips were plastered to hold a pacifier in place.

The third baby was the grandchild of Lucresio Son, a resident of Tabunan, Cebu City. Son said his daughter Lushella gave birth to a baby girl last August 8, 2013 at CPCMHI.

The presence of the fourth baby, on the other hand, came to light through Noval, who initially refused to name the parents of the fourth baby for now, but he said they will reveal it on Friday.

The third and fourth baby, however, have no photos captured as evidence against the hospital.

CHR-7’s Atty. Dante Jadman urged parents of the second to fifth babies to file a complaint or claim damages from the hospital.

Jadman said that the grandfather of the third baby has already come up with an affidavit while the mother of the fourth baby is yet to finish her sworn statement. He said the mother of the second baby is considered to have “withdrawn” from pursuing her own case against the hospital.

Badocdoc said the increasing number of similar acts drew “mixed emotions” from her.

“Na-prove naming talaga na hindi isolated case ‘tong sa amin, and nangyari din siya sa ibang babies. We’ll file our case to stop the practice,” she said,

Badocdoc said she was hoping the parents would also file complaints to support their case and in so doing help the ‘voiceless’ newborn children.

She said the mother of the fifth baby has deleted the photo of her baby in her Facebook account.

“Na-contact na naming yung mother ng fifth baby, she’s willing to give statement kaso she doesn’t want na ma-media,” Badocdoc said.

Jadman said that in their deliberation yesterday with members of the Regional Subcommittee for Welfare of Children (RSCWC) agencies, they uncovered lapses and violations committed by the maternity.

What were discussed during the meeting included hospital breastfeeding policy; that no pacifiers should be used for newborn and premature babies; that the normal standard of newborn care ratio is one nurse for every six babies, with the special cases being one nurse to three babies; corporal punishment; for the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) to capacitate the member-agencies on child protection policy;  immediate response of the nurse on the mother’s complaint on the plaster on her baby’s mouth.

Also tackled were violations of standards, policies, and protocols on the part of the hospital, actions of concerned agencies on the violations, items to be included in RSCWC’s  investigation result, documents submitted by the hospital to the committee, and updates on the psycho-social support provided to the parents by various agencies.

CWC’s national office has also asked for a special report on the incident, which was why the RSCWC needed to already finalize soonest the result of its investigation.

Jadman, however, said that although they have identified the violations, he could not reveal them yet.

He said that an inter-agency resolution will determine the violations and they would be divulged to the public 15 working days to be reckoned on June 9. The resolution would be penned by Atty. Alan Felix Macaraya of the National Telecommunications Commission.

CHR is giving all member-agencies under the regional subcommittee until tomorrow to submit their evaluation reports.

Jadman said all parties can use the resolution as evidence but that it would depend on the court if it would accept it.

“(The resolution is) not necessarily admissible as evidence because the court is an independent investigating body,” he said.

On possible violations committed by Badocdoc and Noval, Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Grace Yana said the RSCWC did not touch on them because it only evaluated the part of the hospital since the institution has custody of the baby when the alleged taping happened.

“Sa picture alone, and other nga gipakita, naa gyo’y naka violate sa right sa child pero whoever that person is, i-investigate pana kay ni-deny man ang hospital. So, sa korte na gyod na sila mag-abot,” Yana said.

 â€œAng resolution sa RSCWC, pag-establish lang kon naa ba’y gap along standard in the operation labi na sa nursery, sa mga policies like sa breastfeeding law, sa protocol including sa security measures sa hospital,” she added.

Yana said recommendations the RSCWC would later come up with would guide the hospital to improve and avoid similar incidents from further happening.

She also said the DSWD is willing to provide help to the nurses concerned.

“Wala pa’y ruling nga naka-violate ang nurses kay wala pa na-name gyod kon kinsa nagbuhat,” Jadman said.

As to the Child Protection Policy the hospital supposedly have, Yana said the RSCWC will ask help from CWC to popularize and teach it to all concerned institutions.

She said that Philippines is one of the signatories of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provides the policy that hospital like CPCMHI should follow.

“The RSCWC proposed to review the guidelines of each member agency og unsa gyod ang among mga powers over aning among gipang monitor nga institutions kay kon wala, kon mahimo i-apil gyod na siya. Next regular meeting, i-review among guidelines para pag-prevent nga posibleng mga abuses para sa mga kabataan,” she said.

Present in yesterday’s meeting were CHR-7, DSWD-7, NTC, Philippine National Police, Department of Justice, City Prosecutor’s Office, Cebu City Hall, and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

Meanwhile, Yana said the ocular inspection suggested by Cebu City Department of Social Welfare and Services Chief Ester Concha would push through.—/RHM (FREEMAN)