Medical association condemns Cagayan de Oro bombing

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Medical Association condemned the bombing of a popular restaurant in Cagayan de Oro on Friday night which killed six persons, including a physician.

“We condemn to the highest degree this dastardly act of violence against our people. A colleague, Dr. Erwin Malinay from Metro Manila needlessly was instantly killed and many allied health workers were seriously injured in the blast,” PMA president Leo Olarte said in a statement.

He said over a thousand doctors from all over the country who are members of the Philippine College of Chest Physicians and the Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, both specialty societies of the PMA, were in Cagayan de Oro City for their conventions.

He added that members of the Philippine Dental Association also had a function in Cagayan de Oro at the time of the bombing.

“Our colleagues from the World Medical Association (WMA) are asking us if it is still safe to send their members to the Philippines,” Olarte said.

“With the help of the mass media, we are urgently calling the attention of our friend Honorable Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to decisively act on this treacherous incident,” he added.

Olarte urged Roxas to help provide protection for the other members of the PMA and its allied health professionals who were still in Cagayan de Oro.

“We have been trying to contact DILG Secretary Mar Roxas but it seems that he is busy. We are appealing to our beloved President Benigno S. Aquino III to immediately take pro active steps to prevent this kind of situation to be repeated,” he added.

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