Health workers denounce the govt's evasion on public's demand for accountability; corruption kills like a cancer

Health groups under the Health Alliance for Truth and Justice join today's Interfaith rally at Ayala Avenue to protest Mrs. Arroyo's callousness and her government's systematic manipulation to balk at the serious corruption charges being hurled against her and her cronies.

Dr. Darby Santiago, HATJ's lead convenor said, "she continues to pervert people power, the people's right to know the truth, and the demand public accountability."

Mrs. Arroyo is accountable. Her belated admission proved that she knew about the irregularities of the NBN-ZTE deal but disregarded these and allowed the contract to be formally signed.

Now that she has her hands full, employing every sort of ludicrous gimmickry to divert attention and evade accountability, from despicable and cheaply-scripted unity walks and mass celebrations/prayer sessions within Malacanang to portray her spirituality and immaculateness.

She even floated to review EO 464, which allegedly exercises powers of executive privilege, to appease the some sectors including the Senate, even if the Supreme Court has since declared it to be arbitrary.

Her ploy of cheap acts are signs of desperation, but all a little too late. And the more she does all of these, the more protests hound her.


Corruption kills

According to Dr. Santiago, aside from the attempts to extract kickbacks from the NBN-ZTE deal, billions of pesos are still taken away from state coffers in every form of corruption.

"Corruption kills", said Santiago, "it curtails our people's right to health care."

The cancer of corruption spreads deep and wide. At the very heart of this disease is Mrs. Arroyo.

Funds that are supposed to deliver health and other social services are pilfered to buy political support and sustain loyalty to Mrs. Arroyo's rule. Of late, she has again revived funds for military housing in the hope of neutralizing them or securing their loyalty.

Meanwhile, hospitals' and health centers' logistical deficiencies have become so glaring nowadays that sick people are frustrated in availing these services.

Communicable diseases that are preventable and mostly poverty-related, like tuberculosis, dengue fever, and pneumonia, continue to rise and are not effectively mitigated because funds are usually diverted elsewhere. "The death bed of our country's public health system is a ramification of Arroyo's policy of neglect and incorrigible greed", Santiago ended.