Mayor: Due process for city health exec

AFTER Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio received the formal complaint filed by the parents of the one-year-old boy who died after receiving two shots of vaccines, the mayor assured that due process will be given to the Dr. Danilo Ledesma, medico-legal officer of the City Health Office (CHO), who allegedly tore the boy's death certificate.

Duterte-Carpio said Friday she did not order the temporary suspension of Ledesma pending result of an investigation being conducted by a probe team.

She said Erwin Alparaque, chief of the City Hall's Human Resource and Management Office (HRMO), is leading the probe team.

"Due process man ang atong ginasunod, he is allowed to answer the complaint. This is the essence of the grievance procedure," the mayor said.

Ledesma refused to grant interviews with the media after the incident but in an interview with Radyo Patrol, Ledesma claimed that he tore the boy's death certificate because his parents did not show him any respect when they entered his office.

The mayor said he will not interfere with the investigation, saying that she will decide on the fate of Ledesma based on the result of the investigation.

Duterte-Carpio said she already instructed the investigating team to submit the findings to her as soon as possible.

To recall, Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) of Barangay 8-A in Madapo injected two shots of vaccines to the boy later identified as Khean Mark M. Boco in their house in the same barangay.

A day after, the boy suddenly died. The boy's mother, Maridelma S. Boco claimed that her son was well before he was injected with the vaccine, then suddenly the boy died.

The boy was injected with pentavalent vaccine (five in one vaccine) injected intra-muscularly or directly into the muscle and BCG vaccine that was administered intra-dermally. The boy also took an Oral Polio Vaccine.