A WOMAN died after giving birth on the sidewalk near Iglesia ni Kristo church on General Maxilom Avenue, Cebu City, past 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 14, 2024.
The victim who used the sidewalk as her sleeping quarter was identified as Mary Ann Tampos, 35, of Sitio Tabay Lawom, barangay Tisa, Cebu City.
The newborn also passed away shortly after being born.
The mother was still alive after she delivered a baby girl.
Sheila Marie Nicolasora, a traffic enforcer, helped in the delivery, but the fetus appeared black and blue even before it finally came out of her mother’s womb.
A nurse who passed by the area also helped to get the baby out but it was stillborn.
"Mao to naay nurse niabot murag gipush gamay mao to nigawas, paggawas sa bata mao to patay na jud unya ang umbilical cord gikan sa tiyan, wa pa mogawas," Nicolasora said.
(That's when the nurse showed up; it seemed as though she gave a slight push, which caused the baby to emerge even though it was already dead, and the umbilical cord didn’t come out).
They quickly called an ambulance to take the woman to the nearest hospital.
Tampos was loaded into an ambulance when the emergency personnel arrived, but she refused to be taken to the hospital, claiming the hospital would profit from her and that the physicians would only be experimenting her.
Instead, she offered to sign a waiver.
The doctors even told her that her stomach and uterus would only be cleaned at the hospital at no cost.
Still, she refused and requested to get off the ambulance.
"Giingnan siya adtong usa ka doctor nga kung nahadlok ka sa bayad ayaw ka problema kay kami ray kuan kay igo raman mi molimpyo sa imong tiyan, giingnan man niya nga di kaya rani nako moginhawa rako unya giingnan niya ang mga doctor nga ay pangwartahan rako ninyu, praktisan rako ninyu inaog nalang ko ninyu. Gihapak pa gani niya ang usa ka doctor mao to ninaog gyud siya, iya pang gibalikas," according to the victim’s friend.
(A doctor advised her not to worry about the payment since they would take care of it and that they would only clean her stomach. In response, she informed the doctors, "You will just earn money from me, experiment me, just take me off the vehicle," adding that she could handle it on her own. When she got off the ambulance (at Mango Square), she even struck one of the physicians and shouted at him).
It is believed that the woman ran out of blood and the baby's placenta also did not come out.
Mantos expired on the spot where she was dropped from the ambulance. (AYB, TPT)