Faces of the News: Saturnino Javier

For speaking truth to power, Makati Medical Center (MMC) director Dr. Saturnino Javier earned praise from the public fed up with the apparent self-entitlement government officials flaunt at a time when the country is in the midst of a health crisis.

Javier called out Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III for his “irresponsible and reckless action” when he went to MMC to accompany his expectant wife, breaking his home quarantine protocol as a “person under investigation.”

Pimentel turned out to be positive for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and had potentially exposed medical front-liners to the virus. As a consequence, the quarantine of MMC nurses and doctors “will further deplete the dwindling workforce of the hospital,” Javier said.

The MMC head later accepted Pimentel’s apology and urged the medical community “to focus its energies, skills and passion” toward conquering COVID-19.