CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia threatened to file a complaint against a resident of Davao City who claimed to be a cousin of the late Argao tourism officer Theodore Villarimo and posted a letter on the Internet about how the negligence of the province led to his cousin’s death.
Sepulveda said Governor Gwendolyn Garcia ordered a fact-finding investigation of the failure of the Isidro Kintanar Memorial Hospital to provide a nurse to escort Villarimo and the alleged failure to provide medical attention to him.
Sepulveda also said the accusations made by Todd Lucero Sales are unfair to Garcia.
Sales, who admitted posting the letter on the Internet said, said he did it as a call for justice.
Sales worked with Villarimo at the municipal government of Argao as executive director for culture and heritage but returned to Davao City last year.
“Is this kind of Cebu we live in where the government punishes us for telling the truth or asking questions?” Sales replied via text message when The FREEMAN asked for his reaction.
“I believe we still live in a democracy and I can express my anger. If they file a case against me for trying to fight for justice then so be it. I am not afraid. If sa pagkiha nako mahatagan og hustisya ang nabiktima sa mga district hospitals then it would be worth it,” he added.
Possible implications on tourism
If tourists will go around the towns in the province and suffer a heart attack, asthma attack or other ailments, will the hospitals in Cebu be able to attend to them?
This was the question posed by the friends and relatives Villarimo who also urge the provincial government, which runs the district hospitals in the far towns of the province, to improve the delivery of health services as it may affect the tourism industry here.
“We always show our tourists all the beautiful places, beautiful things and history, but we haven’t showed them the poor situation of our hospitals,” said Karla Kintanar Fernandez, one of Villarimo’s closest friends.
“We are not necessarily pointing fingers at any particular official, we are not blaming them but we are appealing that it is time for our hospitals to be improved to avoid similar incident,” said Mary Anne Alcordo-Solomon, another of Villarimo’s friends and colleagues.
She said that provincial government must also conduct a spot check in all district hospitals in the province that might be experiencing the same poor situation.
Fernandez, during a press conference last Wednesday at the City Sports Club, said that one of the programs of the provincial government is boosting the tourism industry in Cebu.
However, she said the government is forgetting that improving health services must go along with successful tourism.
“Suroy-suroy is a very good idea. No one can contest that. It is a very good, brilliant way of promoting the Cebu and the Cebuanos to tourists. But we are showing them only the beautiful sites. Why don’t we take them to our hospitals? Tingali mo-donate pa sila kung makakita sila sa tinuod nga sitwasyon,” Fernandez said.
But then again she said if the province is claiming to be the richest province in the country, the province, then the province does not need donations for the operation of these hospitals.
“In the first place, we should not even have a surplus. It should all go to the basic services,” she said.
Following the death of Villarimo last month, his friends and relatives started appealing to the provincial government to improve the delivery of health services especially those in the far towns of the province.
They are blaming the poor service at the Isidro Kintanar District Hospital for the death of Villarimo.
Villarimo, who suffered an asthma attack, was not able to make it alive to the city hospital as he died upon reaching Carcar City on board an ambulance with no medical personnel to attend to him.— Jose P. Sollano and Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP (FREEMAN NEWS)