To prove settlement with baby’s mom, hospital shows more ‘evidence’

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House, Inc. lawyer Cornelio Mercado yesterday released copies of the supposed check and voucher of the hospital’s financial assistance to Jasmine Badocdoc.

Mercado said they initially intended to let things pass, hoping to have the issue finally laid to rest after the “settlement,” but the “lies” have prompted them to finally show the public their proof.

Badocdoc is the mother of an infant whose mouth was allegedly taped while the child was under the care of CPCMHI. Her Facebook post has prompted others to also say their newborns, too, had their mouths taped.

It was reported recently that Badocdoc actually entered into a settlement with the hospital, which she later vehemently denied.

 “This has already become preposterous. We cannot anymore sit by and allow Jasmine to mislead the public. Maayo unta to’g kami ra naigo and be silent and wait for the time nga mag-self-destruct sila. We owe it to the public to let them be informed of the truth. Aside from the settlement of dispute, the vital information is the check and voucher since these are proof of implementation,” Mercado told The FREEMAN yesterday.

He emailed to The FREEMAN photos of the check and voucher yesterday afternoon.

Based on what Mercado sent, Badocdoc accordingly received a Bank of E-Commerce check amounting to P15,423.78.

The photo showed the check number 0000035915 dated June 27, 2014 issued by CPCMHI and charged to account number 005-00-000237-4 at the Bank of Commerce Cebu Main Branch located at the corner of B. Rodriguez Street and Osmeña Boulevard.

At the back of the check were two specimen signatures allegedly that of Badocdoc.

The check voucher, on the other hand, showed serial number CV-072416, a heading mentioning the amount, and the date of issuance.

The “explanation” for the issuance of the voucher was the “request for financial assistance.”

Senior bookkeeper Quenie S. Oca, who prepared the voucher; accountant Emily V. Ramos, who certified its correctness; and medical director Dr. Raida G. Varona, who approved the amount, signed the voucher.

Sought for comment, Ryan Noval, Badocdoc’s live-in partner, said their lawyer Heidi Orbiso advised them to keep silent and that they would just answer when the time is right. He, however, referred The FREEMAN Badocdoc’s Facebook post.

“We have to wait for our lawyer to comment. She wanted us to stay calm just like the first document. Jasmine actually posted on her FB (Facebook) her thoughts but I cannot elaborate yet. Hope you understand,” Noval said.

The full text of Badocdoc’s Facebook post yesterday afternoon read, as follows:

“WE WILL GO AND SEE EACH OTHER IN COURT. Mr. Lawyer, in an interview you said ‘This is turning into a circus.’ You said the same thing before when your camp came out with an outright denial that the nurses or a nurse at your hospital taped my baby’s mouth and the presence of a pacifier in his glass bassinet. Yes, it has turned into a circus because you made it turn into one, the moment your camp denied our allegation about the tape and the pacifier and the first time you tried to discredit me by insinuating that ‘I was the one who taped my baby’s mouth and placed a pacifier in his bassinet.’

Because with that, your camp made it appear like I was mentally deranged of a mother to endanger my own son’s life by taping his mouth. Now, with you coming out calling the media and showing the world your ‘so-called settlement document’ before the result or resolution of the sub-committee’s investigation on the taping incident came out, is the second attempt to discredit me. Normal people just don’t go around destroying other people. So if I came out and talked to the media, it’s because the situation ask for it. I need to defend myself. If this is your strategy to discredit me and divert the attention of the public to this so-called settlement from the main issue which is the taping of my son’s mouth, you have succeed.

If your camp really did settle with us, you just gave us an idea that no wonder nobody aside from us came out to complain against the hospital or any malpractice of its staff before regardless of how many other parents or mothers out there who experienced what our son and we went through because this is how you always resolve it, you settle it monetarily to quiet them down. Your so-called financial settlement that I have with your camp is ‘JUST WAY TOO CHEAP OF A PRICE FOR WHAT WE’VE BEEN FIGHTING FOR AND WHAT WE WENT THROUGH.’”

Like what Ryan said, “YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY OR BUY OUR INTEGRITY, SELF-RESPECT AND PRINCIPLES.’ If your camp offered us 1 Billion, without second thoughts, I would take it so I can build a hospital to replace yours with truly caring and competent nursery staff. So you can try any desperate move to discredit us/me again. But that’s all that you can do. YOU CAN ONLY TRY.WE WILL HAVE TO PROVE EACH OTHER IN COURT.”

Another post by Badocdoc challenged Mercado to present a copy of the closed-circuit television footage that would supposedly prove she did sign a settlement document.

“PLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSE SHOW US A CCTV FILE OF ME BY YOUR CASHIER RECEIVING THAT CHECK AND SIGNING THAT AND YOUR SO-CALLED DOCUMENT AND A CCTV FILE/RECORD OF THE OTHER SIGNATORIES COMING IN TO YOUR BOARD ROOM WITH ME SINCE YOU SAID DURING THE INVESTIGATION AT DOH (Department of Health) THAT YOU HAVE ONE BY YOUR CASHIER HALLWAY,” the post read.

Mercado said he could not understand why Badocdoc had a change of heart and seemed to have backed out of the supposed agreement that would have already “laid to rest” the issue.

Meanwhile, Philippine Nurses Association Cebu president Edith Rose Santos shared her reaction on the supposed settlement.

“We learned that there was settlement between the hospital and the mother. From the PNA side, murag wala na mi mahimo kay di man sad mi ka (we cannot really do anything as we cannot) dictate upon the two parties. We will just wait kung unsa ilang action. But since there is amicable settlement, more or less (I am) happy na pud ko. Mahuman na ni (This would already end,” she said. —/RHM (FREEMAN)