Hontiveros, Baguio City council file bills to protect health workers from discrimination

 BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY -- A bill seeking to protect health workers, frontliners, and patients from discrimination, harassment and violence, especially amidst the crisis brought by the novel coronavirus disease or COVID-19, was filed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday.  

Senate Bill No. 1436, otherwise known as the ‘Mandatory Protection of Health Workers, Frontliners and Patients Act,’ seeks to address threats and acts of violence and harassment experienced especially by health workers and patients in their respective communities. 

“In the midst of this crisis, our health workers continue to work at the frontlines, risking their and their families’ health and well-being for the health and well-being of our community. Discrimination against health workers is a crime against public health,” Hontiveros said in a statement sent to the Northern Philippine Times.  

Here in the summer capital, a health worker was recently assaulted by five men who poured liquid on her near the Baguio General Hospital.

The assailants were not identified to date even as radio stations and netizens called for their arrest.

The proposed measure of Hontiveros, an amendment to Section 9 of Republic Act No. 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act which the Senator co-authored, covers all health workers, frontline employees and patients, regardless if they are confirmed or merely suspected to be carriers of any disease of public health concern.

The bill was filed after reports of health workers and patients being barred entry to groceries, banks, boarding houses and even into their own barangays.

Hontiveros reported that extreme cases have led to death, citing attacks against an ambulance driver in Quezon City and another health worker at a hospital in Sultan Kudarat.

“Ignorance and hostility will not protect us from the disease. Now, more than ever, we need compassion and community. Now, more than ever, we need to protect our health workers and frontliners,” Hontiveros urged.  

                Once passed into law, violators of the measure will be fined P20,000 to P50,000, and will face imprisonment of one to six months. 

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In Baguio, the city council passed a resolution recently calling for strict implementation of the city’s Anti-Discrimination Ordinance in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis to curb public stigma among persons who have contracted the coronavirus, persons under investigation (PUIs), persons under monitoring (PUMs), health workers, non-medical frontliners, and employees of establishments providing basic services.

Ordinance No. 13, Series of 2017, also known as the Anti-Discrimination Ordinance of the City of Baguio prohibits discrimination against anyone on the basis of religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, health status, disability and age” and provides penalties for violation ranging from P1,000 to P5,000 or imprisonment of one to 30 days.

Jordan Habbiling, city council staff said in a press release the resolution stated that stigmatizing people who have tested positive for COVID-19 including PUIs and PUMs could “drive people to hide the illness to avoid discrimination” which prevents them from seeking immediate health care and makes it all the more difficult for them to adopt healthy behaviors.

The resolution noted that some people who are on the front line in the fight against the deadly disease have become the target for discrimination.

The resolution urged the community to show solidarity with these individuals instead of discriminating them.

“They need the support and protection of the government,” the resolution stated.

Earlier, the city council commended individuals that, even with the possibility of being discriminated, still publicly revealed that they were positive for COVID-19 as such act would allow faster contact tracing by health authorities.