BENCHWARMER
Ramon
Dacawi
(We share the following
letter to the Courier editor by Atty. Roland Rillera Salazar in response to the
letter of dialysis patients the week before. – RD):
This has to
do with the letter allegedly sent by the BGH Dialysis Patients, Watchers,
Doctors and Nurses, which appeared in your August 26,2018 issue.
I am also a
Dialysis Patient of BGH, but I DO NOT SHARE THE SAME OPINION AS THE ONES WHO
WROTE THAT LETTER that appeared in your August 26, 2018 issue.
First of all,
the generalization that all the BGH dialysis patients signed the letter is
erroneous. I DID NOT GIVE MY CONSENT TO THE WRITING OF THAT LETTER.
Thus, whoever
wrote that letter should not make it appear everybody (BGH dialysis patients and
watchers) participated in the writing of that letter, when in truth and in
fact, neither me, nor my wife's (who is also a watcher) consent were obtained,
so as to generally include us as signatories to that letter.
I am not like
the other BGH Dialysis patients, especially a certain "benchwarmer",
who are bitter and sore losers because they did not receive a single centavo
from the proceeds of the Kalayaan Trail run organized by the P7
group."Haan ak agraraman iti kwarta nga haan ko nagrigatan".
Being a
journalist, that "benchwarmer" who wrote the letter about the P7
group, should have obtained the consent of all the patients before signing his
letter as "BGH DIALYSIS PATIENTS,etc."
Worse, they
managed to get my wife to sign the letter by making it appear that it was a
petition for free dialysis (sic). They did not tell her the truth that she was
signing for a letter that was to be published in the Baguio Midland Courier!
How brazenly deceitful!!!
I am saying
this because I was chided by several friends who read the letter in your August
26, 2018 issue, by saying:" Apay pards, agraraman kayo la unayen iti
kwarta nga haan kayo la ketdi maka move on?", which was to my
embarrassment.
For my fellow
BGH dialyis patients, MOVE ON. There is no use being bitter and crying over
spilled milk. The fact that you have been griping over not being able to
receive any money from the proceeds of the Kalayaan Trail Run, is already a
source of embarrassment because people are beginning to think that "sobra
namang kapal ng mukha natin pagdating sa pagpapalimos ng pera". As I
always say:"ipasa Diyos nyo na yan". Karma always balances out
injustices..
As for the
"benchwarmer" who generalized and made it appear that all the
dialysis patients and watchers signed his letter, where is your journalism
ethics? You are not supposed to include people in something, especially a
letter criticizing others, without their express consent. To make things clear:
NOT EVERYBODY SHARES YOUR BITTERNESS AND OPINION.
Atty. ROLAND RILLERA
SALAZAR
*****
Response:
Atty. Salazar angrily confronted me regarding this while I was on
dialysis, threatening to slap me with a copy of the Courier last Tuesday. 1) I
am sorry that he feels alluded to, even as we tried to explain he was not
included as what I wrote in that letter to the editor was: “Dialysis Patients,
Watchers, Doctors, Nurses of BGHMC Dialysis Center” – without the adverbial
qualifier “All”. This clearly means that NOT ALL dialysis patients, watchers,
doctors and nurses were included. I tried to present this
basic grammatical rule during our exchange. 2) I discussed
the issue if only to prevent similar instances
wherein illness, pain and suffering are used to solicit funds, part of
which went to the project organizers as salaries, and none to the announced
beneficiaries. As Atty, Salazar pointed out, it’s not about money, even if many
patients were looking forward to the Run to help them pay for the repair of
their fistulas so they can continue to undergo dialysis –and live.
It’s about hope, for the Run was offered as
their hope for deliverance, albeit temporary. It’s about being
true, about being honest, transparent and human. It’s
about our continuous struggle to be alive, for life is beautiful, despite the
hardships we, dialysis patients, face for life. 4) The letter to the Courier
editor was attached to where the patients signed and those who did not sign
are, therefore, not included. Clearly, it was not a petition for free dialysis,
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