THE local chapter of the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) has condemned the violent attack on a 41-year-old dentist that left him with eye injuries inside his clinic on Queens Road near the Redemptorist Church in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City.
PDA Cebu Chapter immediate past president Dr. Adam Alviar said on Thursday, July 6, 2023, that their group “does not condone criminality in society and any course of action leading to violence and disorder to the sanctity of life.”
The statement came after two unidentified men broke into the clinic of Dr. Charles Pactol Sia and struck his eyes with a blunt weapon on Wednesday afternoon, July 5, 2023.
“I have no derogatory remarks or issue about him. He is a good practitioner and he is a member of the education community,” Alviar said.
He said the community was surprised by the incident, and it is now demanding justice for Sia.
Before Sia was attacked, the men entered his clinic, pretending to deliver an item to the dentist, according to Rose Rosell Bardisco, the dentist’s secretary who reported the incident to the Abellana Police Station.
One of the suspects was dressed in a black jacket, while the other in a green one. They were both wearing masks.
The suspect in green jacket pulled out a weapon and barged inside the doctor’s room where a foreigner was being operated on, according to Bardisco.
The suspects tied the hands of the victim, Bardisco and the patient. Afterwards, they struck the victim’s eyes with a blunt object until they bled.
An adjacent establishment’s caretaker said upon hearing the foreigner’s cry for help, they rushed to the clinic and immediately contacted an ambulance. Upon arrival, they found Sia bleeding profusely from both of his eyes.
The doctor’s clinic did not have a security guard on duty during the day as he had been shifted to the night shift due to incidents of theft in the vicinity.
Sia is now in a safe condition, according to the police.
Investigation
Abellana Police Station Chief Alfred Leanza said they are still gathering more information to identify the perpetrators.
They also examined the victim’s cellphone with the hope of obtaining leads for the investigation and gathering statements from individuals in the area, including potential witnesses.
Leanza said one of the suspects might have been angry with the victim since he told him, “Dako kaayo kag atraso sa akoa (You have done me a great wrong).”
Cebu City Police Office Director Ireneo Dalogdog has ordered his men to speed up the investigation. He will ask the Investigation Detection Management Unit to help the Abellana police.
The Police Regional Office-Central Visayas has started assisting in the investigation for the immediate resolution of the crime.
Attacks on members of the medical community in Cebu are rare.
On April 16, 2000, Dr. Alfonso Bayani, a dentist, was killed by his three helpers inside his house in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City. The motive behind the incident was robbery.
In 2006, internist Dr. Jane Lim-Chua, 51, was shot to death inside her clinic at the Cebu Doctors’ University Health Sciences Center by her former patient, Dutch national Oleg Parfenyuk, 52, who was believed to be schizophrenic. In 2013, Canadian John Pope, 66, killed pediatric surgeon Dr. Reynold Rafols and the doctor’s lawyer, Jubian Achas, inside a courtroom at the Palace of Justice. Rafols, Pope’s neighbor, had filed cases of grave threats and malicious mischief against him.
In 2014, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Cris Cecil Chan Abbu, 56, was killed inside his clinic at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Barangay Sambag 2, Cebu City by Wilfredo Sabonsolin, 71, a former seaman he had been treating for spinal problems. It was believed that Sabonsolin might have suffered from depression due to his medical condition. (EHP, BBT, AYB, TPT)