Friday, April 18, 2008 VSMMC employee accused of asking woman for sex in exchange for document By Nancy R. Cudis Sun.Star Staff Reporter
STILL reeling from the controversy over the posting of a video of a patient’s surgery, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) is again facing another complaint from a patient.
This time, the patient is accusing a VSMMC property custodian of asking her to have sex with him in exchange for the release of a document.
Ronalyn Caballes, 27, complained to the Fuente Police Station Wednesday morning that Jeffry Polancos, VSMMC property custodian, asked to have sex with her in the hospital’s “bodega” before he will release her child’s certificate of live birth.
‘Too much’
Caballes, a single mother, requested from Polancos the certificate of live birth of her child last Friday morning. She gave birth to a baby boy last Jan. 16.
“I followed him up on the certificate many times over the phone. I need it so I can have my baby baptized. I went to him personally three times, the last time was too much,” Caballes said in Cebuano during a phone interview.
She said Polancos led her to the stairs leading to the operating room, where he asked her to have sex with him in exchange for the document. He told her to go ahead to the hospital’s stockroom and he will just follow.
Angry and shocked, Caballes grabbed her claim stub and walked out of the hospital. She said she was afraid and kept crying over the incident. When her mother learned about it, Caballes was encouraged to complain against Polancos.
Aside from reporting the case to the police, she also sought the help of Barangay officials from Sambag 2, where she resides.
Barangay Captain Carl Stephen Belarmino advised Caballes to submit a complaint to VSMMC.
Not the first
She was also asked to give an account of the incident to officials of Barangay Tinago, where Polancos, believed to be in his late 30s, resides.
“I heard that this is not the first time with the same person. We called up an official in the hospital who advised us to submit a letter of complaint. So we taught her how to make one. This is more on the administrative side. The hospital doesn’t need this problem that is why we are asking for immediate action on the complaint so that it will
all be finished,” said Belarmino.
But Caballes is determined to do more, she plans to personally meet with VSMMC chief Dr. Gerardo Aquino today to submit her complaint.
“I hope that other victims will surface so that it will be stopped, so that there will no longer be victims,” she said.
Polanco allegedly victimized another person from Barangay Guadalupe. Fuente Police is still waiting for her to surface since the one who reported the incident last Wednesday was a leader of her homeowner’s association.
Sun.Star Cebu, after visiting the medical records section yesterday, learned that Polancos did not report for work. A co-employee said he was a contractual worker but she didn’t know the reason for his absence.
The latest complaint has not yet reached the administration of the hospital.
VSMMC spokesperson Dr. Emmanuel Gines admitted he didn’t know about it but said there will “definitely be an investigation.”
In a text message, he added that further questions on the case will be answered in today’s press conference when the administration will disclose results of its investigation on the video posted on YouTube showing doctors and nurses laughing while removing a spray canister from a patient’s rectum.
