[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’#JusticeforDrDrey’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ROMA GONZALES
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=”]
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
HE PROBABLY did more genuine public service than several of those who call themselves public servants.
The country, especially the medical profession, is shaken with the death of Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas, a native of Aklan who was murdered in cold blood while serving the community of Sapad in Lanao del Norte for reasons that still remain unknown.
After serving as a rural health physician for two years under the Doctor to the Barrios (DTTB) initiative of the Department of Health, Dr. Dreyfuss chose to stay in Lapad since October 2014, a community that, according to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, was without a doctor for 12 years. Yet his courageous heart was literally repaid with a penetrating and fatal bullet. The day of his senseless murder, he was just on his way home from a medical mission.
It is easy to mourn Dr. Dreyfuss. After all, we were told from the start about his selfless commitment to his profession. But the more family and friends take to social media with their eulogies, the more we know how human he was and how tragic was his passing.
Though it is true we defer from speaking ill of the dead, his WVSU-College of Medicine friends and colleagues with whom he had shared several painstaking years all consistently praised his generosity, kindness and gentleness despite being the tallest in class. In their college batch’s Facebook page – Aestimateo Anima, a name which he apparently came up himself – they revealed that he was the class leader who loved to play the piano, to cook and to sing.
Of the countless sad and frustrating news of crime and corruption that always reach our televisions, papers and radios, this has to be one of the very bad ones for only have we known that such goodness exists after it is gone. It feels Dr. Dreyfuss left a vast void, not only in the lives of his family and friends but in the entire country. How sorrowful it is that in the midst of dogs eating dogs, we have lost an exemplary citizen who chose the road less traveled to serve a fifth-class community a thousand miles away from the comforts of home. We don’t have much of this kind of people, and now we have lost one whose death will understandably dishearten the rest.
If it is any consolation to the family and friends, the number of times he has been called dedicated and selfless makes us once again believe in the power of human compassion and courage. He must have had such a good family and good influences to have these admirable values.
If it is any consolation to the family and friends, his death opens the discussion for improved working conditions of our public health workers and healthcare delivery in remote areas. Consequentially, Health secretary Paulyn Ubial is reportedly looking into “amending” the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers.
Based on a Rappler report, Ubial has mentioned making a uniform security training and extra compensation to all deployed public health workers.
If it is any consolation to the family and friends, he is now an inspiration to countless people. It may not be too unlikely to believe that there are some who are now inspired to go into the same path he took in the name of service.
The thing about heroes and saints is that most of them are unsung. When the world finally gets around to honoring them, they are already beyond reach, spared from witnessing the joy and pride of the people they have touched.
But that’s what makes them heroes and saints in the first place. They care very little for glory, and more about passion. And long after they are gone, they remain as rippling energies of change or inspiration.
If it is any consolation, his legacy will outlast us./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
