Beyond Sacrifice, Claim to Justice for the Fallen Cainta Frontliner

by Joie Cruz

On August 16, 2014, my mother, Ma. Theresa Cruz, RN wrote on her Facebook timeline, “Going home late at night almost morning [sic]… #lifeofnurse@govt We did our best to served [sic] and we are proud of this noble career we choose [sic]. We are not asking for more but we deserved [sic] better respect, appreciation, kindness, and security.”

Facebook Memories reminded my family of this sentiment from my mother a few days after my post about her experiences and questionable hazard pay went viral on social media.

When my mother’s story was put on the national limelight, we received hundreds of messages of support, and calls from government officials extending their help and condolences. But what was truly moving for me was how my mother’s story inspired friends and strangers to rally for the same cause and to take action. Friends who work in government offered policy recommendations to clarify the confusion on the hazard pay computation; some advocated for the discouragement of using rapid tests with frontliners.

These ripples of change have truly encouraged our family and comforted our hearts during this difficult time. More than two months since our mother left us, we are determined to turn our grief into a call to action and a call for justice and accountability.

After my mother passed, our family’s immediate priority was to ensure the safety of our remaining family members. Despite this, we were also determined from the start to investigate the events leading up to her sudden demise.

In our own investigation we discovered that Dr. Sierra showed a dismissive attitude towards my mother’s request for a COVID-19 test on all three occasions that she was exposed to a positive patient. On several occasions, Dr. Sierra also chastised and berated my mother when she expressed her concerns about the COVID-19 situation in CMH. To add to this, she also had to purchase her own personal protective equipment (PPEs) because the hospital was unable to provide her with a PPE that fits her large frame. On August 13, I was also informed by DOH that the death of my mother, a frontliner, was not reported to the Epidemiology Bureau.

With this, we have decided to file an official complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman against Dr. Antonio Jayson Sierra, the hospital administrator of the Cainta Municipal Hospital (CMH) for Gross Neglect of Duty and Conduct Unbecoming of a Public Officer.

As a holder of a public office, Dr. Sierra has an obligation aside from ensuring that a good health care service is given to public constituents of Cainta but also to ensure that the health workers under his supervision are given fair treatment in the workplace, just compensation, special risk allowance and safe working conditions most especially in this time of pandemic. Despite the existing Magna Carta of Public Healthworkers that serves as a law in protecting healthworkers’s and guide for them to unfold full potential in workplaces — Filipino nurses and health workers in general face abuse, stigma, discrimination and violations of rights for a little-pay.

However, our mother’s story is not an isolated case. This is the reality of the public healthcare system in our country. Even before the Covid-19 crisis, Philippine healthcare system has been backwards and underdeveloped globally. A supposed health care system for all is corrupted and rotten due to prevailing nepotism, maltreatment, and corruption. The pandemic has been the greatest amplifier of long existing issues.

My mother’s untimely death and the rest of our fallen heroes who fought in the frontline should not remain as mere numbers. Their sacrifice is an inspiration to us and health workers to assert for just conditions in workplaces. Poor and unjust conditions in hospitals should not hinder them to assert their rights. Along with their sworn duty, is a responsibility to contribute in the fight to improve their working conditions — encounters of physical attacks, under-compensation, disrespect, harassment, and unsafe working conditions should be taken as opportunities toward active efforts in fighting for a quality of work life, welfare in workplaces in the interest of giving best of their performances in providing health care.

We anchor our unwavering hope in this legal battle to our mother’s journey and dedication in serving the public health sector. We have seen how committed she was into lending her hands for the benefit of the sick and the marginalized who entrust their chances to get cured and live longer in our public health care. Hence, we demand a better and accessible health care system — a service that is reliable, scientific and safe both for our health workers and our fellow countrymen especially in times of health crisis. Furthermore, we appeal to the Office of the Ombudsman for an investigation and establish a fact-finding committee following our complaint on neglect of duty, politicking, demeaning to employees and layers of irregularities under the hospital administration of Cainta Municipal Hospital.

Let this be a wake up call for policy makers and nation leaders that if we want to effectively respond in the pandemic, we have to first, recognize that  we are being left behind in flattening the curves and our health care workers are becoming more vulnerable to risk without having a clear vision where are we going in the Covid-19 battle. Furthermore, our leaders shall open themselves and listen to the decry of health workers and frontliners to adopt a participatory approach in drafting solutions to pandemic with health experts while considering the plight of the marginalized in drafting effective Covid-19 response. ###

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Joie Cruz is represented by lawyers from Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), Inc. For more information, you may reach them through the media contact below.

Dada Grifon
IDEALS – Media Officer
+639 061433871
bcgrifon.ideals@gmail.com