USC Gender Committee Support Statement for the Victim of Cebu Canister Scandal

The University Student Council (USC) believes that each and every human must be treated equally despite of our differences in gender and sexuality. It is a right of every individual to receive proper and humane services just like anybody else should receive, that is why we, the USC condemn the individuals involved in violating the human rights of the victim in the recent “CEBU CANISTER SCANDAL” that was first seen in YouTube (a program on the net that shows a wide variety of video and movie presentations).

We call for the revocation of the licenses of the professionals involved in the scandal
The USC recognizes the fact that the country nowadays is experiencing many crises ranging from food crisis to manpower crisis, and such includes a crisis in professionals such as medical practitioners and nurses. In spite of this crisis, however, we should firmly abide by the rules and regulations specifically the code of ethics that medical practitioners are following. The medical practitioners working in Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) involved in the said scandal –head surgeon Philips Leo Arias and assistant surgeons Angelo Linawagan and Max Joseph Montecillo–clearly violated what is stipulated on the Code of Ethics of the Medical Profession in the Philippines.

ARTICLE II: Duties of the Physicians to their Patients
Section 6. The medical practitioner should guard as a sacred trust anything that is confidential or private in nature that he may discover or that may be communicated to him in his professional relation with his patients, even after their death. He should never divulge this confidential information, or anything that may reflect upon the moral character of the person involved, except when it is required in the interest of justice, public health, or public safety.

And the registered nurses–nursing attendant Rosemarie Villareal and circulating nurse Carmina Sapio –also violated what is written on the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses.

ARTICLE II: Registered Nurses and People
Section 4 Ethical Principles
3. Personal information acquired in the process of giving nursing care shall be held in strict confidence

Therefore, we call the attention of the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC), Department of Health (DoH), Philippine Medical Association (PMA), Philippine Nurses Association (PNA), the office of the Ombudsman, and the administration of the VICENTE SOTTO MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER to be very strict in monitoring our medical professionals. These offices and organizations should also censure such practitioners who do acts of violation specifically violating the rights to privacy of their patients. At the maximum, we recommend that the licenses of these professionals involved be taken from them for this misbehavior.

The USC also considers this scandal as a GENDER-BASED issue
Though we strongly disapprove of the statement of Msgr. Archilles Dacay (speaker of the Archdiocese of Cebu) that it is the victim’s homosexual act that led him to be involved in the scandal, we recognize the fact that gender took part in this issue.

Let us manipulate the scenario. What if instead of a gay man, a woman became the victim? Or a straight man perhaps? How would the society react? Will it be the same way as what they reacted with Danilo’s case? This is a clear manifestation of a homophobic society that we have today. It is not true that the Filipinos are now fully accepting the fact that there are homosexuals and that our society today is what we can consider as a tolerant society. In line with this and the upcoming INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA or IDAHO (May 17, 2008), we would like the government to consider including the Philippines as one of the signatory countries in the IDAHO movement together with other 35 countries around the world (2007).

To end, the USC would like to stress that this Cebu surgery scandal or Cebu canister scandal is clearly an issue that concerns violation of human rights and discrimination. It is also a matter of concern in ethical practices of our home-grown medical practitioners. It is therefore a must for the offices and organizations concerned to make sure that appropriate disciplinary actions for these acts be equally punished by what is stipulated in our law and constitution.

Defend our Human Rights.
Uphold our Medical Profession.
Fight Discrimination.