[] Is Dr. Villa a 'sacred cow'? Alleged disrespect of CHD chief to City Council scored.
[] De los Santos echoes complaints that allegedly call Villa behavior 'bastos' and 'a virus'
WEDNESDAY, August 7, 2024, the Cebu City Council asked the city mayor to order the resident ombudsman at City Hall to investigate "thoroughly" operations of the City Health Department (CHD) under the leadership of Dr. Daisy Villa.
Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos, who moved for the legislative action during a privilege speech in the City Council's regular session, said she was "outraged" by reports to her office about "abuses, tyranny, impropriety, efficiency and ethical violations" of Villa's department.
The complaints against Villa and CHD that de los Santos said her office received include charges of "severe shortage of medical supplies, lack of transparency in the distribution of allowance and benefits, and an oppressive environment."
De los Santos, a councilor from the minority BOPK, didn't name any of the "well-meaning employees" who "have alleged" that Dr. Villa is "herself the virus with projectile and venomous toxic words during her fuming mood, in short 'bastos.'"
In sum, the accusations are multi-pronged, with two specific cases or incidents but wrapped in a general allegation of bad leadership and oppressive decisions.
[1] 'INHUMAN' ORDER. Topping the latest accusations against Villa is a written order (Office Memo #DSV-004-2024-044, April 18, 2024) imposing the condition that if a midwife on 24-hour duty does not deliver a baby during her shift, he or she is "not entitled to off-duty time the following day."
What must offend the health workers and shared by the councilor is that it is a condition not provided by law and can be impractical and "inhuman," as de los Santos alleged. The councilor, who's running for congresswoman in Cebu City north next elections, said the Magna Carta for public health workers and other laws protect the employees, especially on such benefits as day-offs. Villa's order is "illegal, malicious and oppressive," de los Santos said.
A Civil Service Commission report dated July 30, 2024 -- addressed to Remedios Mondigo, OIC of the city's Human Resource Development office, with Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia as LGU head -- raised to their attention an April 18, 2024 complaint against CHD chief Daisy Villa for "grave abuse of authority" arising from the "no day-off" order.
Villa's side was still to be heard although on its face, her order seems to be a management call, aimed to promote productivity or, as a City Hall watcher puts it, "for the City to get its money's worth from its employees." That view may not stand though, with the laws stacked against it.
[2] 'NEAR-NUDE' NUTRITION MONTH CELEBRANTS. The other specific object of de los Santos's denunciation was an alleged "scandalous event" that was part of the department's celebration of Nutrition Month at the DOH premises last July 5, 2024. Showing photos of celebrants or performers in "near nudity," the BOPK councilor said the images were "suggestively" lewd and "inappropriate." Check out those photos in the video streaming of last Wednesday's regular session.
[3] NOT THE FIRST BLAST FROM DE LOS SANTOS. Last February 7, 2024, Councilor de los Santos, in a privilege speech, slammed Villa as head of the city's CHD for conducting pneumococcal and flu vaccination in Lahug without coordinating "properly" with barangay officials. The City Council also requested CHD to submit a list of vaccine documents that show specific dates and number of vials, with the distribution system per barangay.
On May 29, 2024, the City Council, also on motion of de los Santos, requested Acting Mayor Garcia to call out de Villa's attention and impose "possible sanctions" ("discipline her") for her alleged inaction to the legislature's request for information about the CHD's health services and programs.
Thus, she made at least three privilege speeches on the issue, last Wednesday's being the latest. Does she have a personal grudge against Dr. Villa?
[4] NOTHING PERSONAL, SAYS MARY ANN. The councilor told me Thursday, August 8, there is "nothing personal" between her and Dr. Villa. "But it is personal for me," de los Santos said, "to feel empathy since I come from a family of health professionals" and the doctor's behavior is "detrimental and contagious."
The numerous complaints de los Santos's office has received, she said, has so bothered employees at CHD that, aside from eroding morale and crippling performance, some are thinking of resigning if they can no longer bear the pressure.
[5] COMPLIANCE ON REQUESTED DOCUMENTS. Villa was being not transparent and at the same time showing "arrogance" and "utter disrespect" to the City Council, de los Santos alleged. Villa did not heed the Sanggunian request, "not a bit of a reply," despite de los Santos's follow-up, addressed to Mayor Michael Rama on April 3 (before his preventive suspension for six months took effect on May 11).
Yet Villa told SunStar on June 3 she had already submitted the requested documents but there was an additional request for papers that she said she'd submit once the CHD program corrector would collect the data. It wasn't reported later if she had done that already before de los Santos took the floor on the issue again last Wednesday. Apparently, there's a conflict of claims that has not yet been resolved.
[6] THE MATTER OF 'SACRED COW.' Hardly obscured by layers of charges, from specific to general, is the accusation that Villa could be a sacred cow, or among sacred cows. Which may explain why she hadn't t been called out by then Mayor Rama and now Acting Mayor Garcia and she could "afford" to thumb up her nose at the City Council.
Sacred or not, Daisy Villa has tucked a lot of education and experience to her name and credit. On title initials, she is not just and MD; she's also FM, RN, and MPA.
She started as city health officer OIC, during Mayor Mike Rama's tenure; then as acting chief from 2015 to early 2016; followed, under Tomas Osme a's administration (2016-2019), by work in overseeing health centers in Talamban and northeast mountain barangays; and again back as CHD head under mayor Edgardo Labella (2019-2021). During the Covid-19 pandemic, she worked with Dr. Peter Mancao in (a) running the Noah (New Oasis for Adaptation and a Home) community isolation center, which later became a Mega Vaccination Center, and (b) overseeing PSVP or Purok System Vaccination Program. In October 2022, Villa was reinstalled by Mayor Rama as CHD head, focusing on city north, with Dr. Jeffrey Ibones assisting her in the city south.
Is this the same department head that Councilor de los Santos charges as underperforming, calls "bastos" and, obliquely, a "virus" that spews out "toxic" words, a public official that has committed an "inhuman" act against midwives working with the health department?
[7] WHICH IS THE CORRECT CLAIM? De los Santos's thrust, which the City Council has initially supported by collective action on investigation and information-seeking? Or Villa's claim that she and her department had already complied with the City Council request?
There are also other accusations against Villa and her department that can't be resolved by an exchange of Mary-Ann-said-and-Daisy-said. The resident ombudsman's inquiry may help but the resident ombudsman -- or his office for that matter -- has had no impressive track record yet on actual full-blown investigation.
Meantime though, CHD, on the initiative of the mayor and his city administrator, can make corrections of the system and management that allowed the alleged widespread discontent in the department.
What could happen is top officials protecting or assailing Dr. Villa, depending on which camp they're aligned with.