Recto urges Bato to solve murder of volunteer doctor

New Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Friday urged Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to solve the murder of Dr. Dreyfuss “Toto” Perlas, a municipal health officer of Sapad town in Lanao Del Norte.

“Bato should make it his personal mission to find the killers of Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas, the barrio doctor who was shot death March 1 in Lanao Norte,” Recto said in a statement.

“As a government scholar himself (MSU and PMA), Bato should find it not hard to empathize with the familiar story of a Iskolar ng Bayan foregoing private practice for the happy but hardship post of serving the people,” he added.

Perlas, 31, was heading home on board his motorcycle last Wednesday night when he was shot by unidentified assailants.

He attended UP Visayas High School,  took up Biology in UP Los Banos, then became a volunteer under Doctors to the Barrios (DTTB) program by the Department of Health and is well-loved by the community.

READ: Gunmen kill people’s doctor

“As one who had spent most of his career in the hinterlands, Bato should be the first to know that rural deployment, while challenging, should not be paid with one’s life,” Recto said.

He said that as doctors take the famous oath to do no harm, but to carry out their duty, the government should see to it that the rule “do not harm doctors” should be followed as well.

“We therefore owe, it not only to Dr. Perlas, but to his colleagues who form the rural health corps, the thousands of underpaid, overworked government doctors, nurses, midwives who are in the frontline of the war against diseases, that justice be served,” Recto added. RAM