MANILA, Philippines–A group of doctors, nurses and other health professionals on Wednesday joined calls for President Aquino’s resignation, citing his alleged cover-up of the Mamasapano debacle.
In a press conference, the group launched the “Rx Aquino Resign Now!” movement, saying they affirm the people’s diagnosis that “Aquino is unfit to lead as President.”
People living in Mindanao need medicines, not bullets, and doctors, not soldiers, a community doctor said.
The all-out offensive launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) would only add to the number of casualties in the Mamasapano tragedy, Dr. Joseph Carabeo, president of the Community Medicine Practitioners and Advocates Association, said.
Mamasapano, where 44 Special Action Force commandos, 18 Moro fighters and at least five civilians were killed in January, does not even have a health facility, Carabeo noted.
Bullets before medicines
“Having a health center should be a priority but bullets come before medicines and the military before doctors,” he said.
The government’s negligence in ensuring the health and well-being of its people and his alleged cover-up in the Mamasapano fiasco were among the reasons cited by medical practitioners in joining the call for President Aquino’s resignation.
Carabeo said the group could not wait for Aquino to end his term in 2016 because the country is in a critical situation where “every minute, every second counts.”
“If we let Aquino stay in power and in control of all the agencies and policies, it will spell more disasters, more suffering, more diseases and more illnesses,” the community doctor for nearly three decades now said.
Dr. Jean Lindo, chair of “Rx for Peace” in Mindanao, said Aquino should resign because of his incompetence to lead, inability to take responsibility and by aggravating the situation in Mindanao through the all-out offensive against the BIFF.
Stop all-out war
Based on her experiences in medical missions in war-torn areas in Mindanao from former President Joseph Estrada’s all-out war in 2000 to the 2008 conflict arising from the failed memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain during former President Gloria Arroyo’s administration, Lindo said women and children suffer the most.
“The government should stop the all-out offensive because it’s a foolish move,” Lindo, a Davao-based anesthesiologist, said in an interview.
Unhealthy policies
Civilians die and those who survive suffer from trauma and other diseases like diarrhea, respiratory infection, hypertension and mental illnesses each time the government wages war against alleged terrorists in Mindanao, she added.
Citing a government report, Lindo said the month-old operation has forced 80,000 to evacuate and 400 children are sick with respiratory illnesses and other stress-related disorders.