When A Politician Begs for Understanding
In a live interview by GMA’s Jessica Soho, Senator Aquilino Martin D. Pimentel III begged for the understanding of everybody. The interview came after the medical director and interim Co-CEO of the Makati Medical Center, Dr. Saturnino Javier, issued a statement denouncing the senator’s breach of protocols when the latter accompanied his wife to the hospital to give birth.
According to Dr. Javier, the senator’s action was reckless and irresponsible and that it added to the burden of the hospital. From the resilience point of view, how should we react to this and the senator’s plea for understanding?
For starters, let us try to understand the position of Dr. Javier. As one of the leaders of the hospital, he was in charge of ensuring that the institution lives up to its mission of providing the highest quality healthcare experience for all its stakeholders. To do this, he needs to protect the health and well-being of all employees, including non-medical personnel. His admonition of the senator’s action can be taken as an effort to preserve the integrity of the hospital and prevent future breach of protocols that may endanger its employees and their families.
Next, we should try to understand the overwhelming criticism from the public that ensued. Some very harsh words against the senator were thrown into the social media universe, including calls for him to step down from office. This public reaction, against the backdrop of an already troubled nation struggling to manage the outbreak and the dwindling resources needed to contain it, can be interpreted as an expression of the deep-seated frustration over government leaders’ failure to set an example and inspire confidence in the system.
We also need to understand the families of people who have succumbed to the disease while serving in the frontlines. These are grieving Filipinos who are trying to make sense of their loss while trying to find comfort in the sacrifice and heroism of their loved ones. Their condemnation may not be as loud, but surely the very idea of someone putting healthcare workers at further risk would add to their pain.
As for the senator, we can probably understand the stress and anxiety of an expectant father. Perhaps we should even consider the fear and other emotions that he may be experiencing as a Person Under Investigation (PUI). Maybe his actions were driven by the overwhelming sense of panic.
Finally, we need to understand all these in the deeper context of community resilience. For all of us to bounce back better from this crisis, we need to work together. We need to follow our leaders and make the necessary sacrifice required of all of us. We need to take responsibility for ensuring our personal safety and the safety of everyone else. We need to follow the protocols that have been laid down by experts and make sure that these are properly enforced. We need to be constantly reminded that all of us want the same thing — to get to the other side with all our family members intact.
We sincerely hope the good senator, his wife, and their unborn child, are doing well. We hope that amidst the growing frustration and hopelessness, he would also try to understand the impact of his actions and how they are perceived by an already distressed public. In these challenging times, more than ever, we need our leaders to inspire us and not to pull us further apart.
This is an open invitation to Senator Pimentel, as well the rest of our elected leaders, to take the necessary actions to remedy the situation. We are not in a position to prescribe exactly how but perhaps consider that as we struggle with this crisis.
We need every Filipino to trust the system — to believe that the protocols that have been put in place are for the benefit of all and not as a tool to reinforce the privilege of the few and the powerful.
Featured Image:
Koko Pimentel Photo by Albert Calvelo via senate.gov.ph