In case you missed yesterday’s news, on National Heroes Day, August 30, health care workers from different hospitals around Metro Manila staged a protest to call for the release of overdue benefits and the resignation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque.
Echoing similar protests last year, health care workers staged the protest to draw attention to their grievances, which are rooted in the Department of Health’s “[refusal] to provide for health workers’ Covid-19 benefits, safety, and protection,” Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) national president Robert Mendoza has been quoted as saying.
While Filipinos on social media have been sympathetic of the health care workers’ concerns, one key figure was decidedly not.
Teddy Herbosa, a prominent surgeon who serves as a special advisor to the National Task Force on COVID-19, yesterday said that those who joined the protests did not deserve to be called heroes. Tweeting a graphic that thanked “Healthcare Heroes” on National Heroes Day, Herbosa captioned it, “Except yung mga nag protest ha!” (“Except those who joined the protest!”).
Except yung mga nag protest ha! pic.twitter.com/0g04PURqOl
— Teddy Herbosa MD (@Teddybird) August 30, 2021
In subsequent comments, Herbosa implied that the health care workers shouldn’t have been protesting because it was “their duty to serve patients” and “avoid high risk [superspreader] events”.
Responding to a commenter, Herbosa also said, “If the health environment is too toxic for you, just resign and get another job.”
If the health environment is too toxic for you, just resign and get another job.
— Teddy Herbosa MD (@Teddybird) August 30, 2021
Twitter took Herbosa to task for his comments, pointing out that it was the government’s duty to look after the welfare of those in the health care system—and that the former Health Undersecretary might not understand the plight of ill-paid workers.
And its the goverment’s duty to compensate them well. So sad to hear these words from someone who we thought an ally to the medical community
— Justin (@jayson1q2w3e) August 31, 2021
Yes, it’s our duty to serve the patient.
Pero need din namin ma secure ang health namin. Kasi yung hinihingi namin na PARA SA AMIN ay pambili ng mga VITAMINS na di nyo maibigay. Kaya kapag nagkasakit kami or worst mamatay, Sorry na lang uli!!!!Isa kang malaking HAYOP!!!
— Mockingjay #Du30DuQueHAYOP (@futurePH_MD) August 31, 2021
And its the goverment’s duty to compensate them well. So sad to hear these words from someone who we thought an ally to the medical community
— Justin (@jayson1q2w3e) August 31, 2021
You can effing easily say that because you are well compensated in spite of your mediocre performance. Why don’t you try joining them on the frontline and look after some Covid patient it you have the balls.
— Sandi Daffyd (@Papa_Ethan_76) August 30, 2021
Herbosa has also implied that the protesters may not be health care workers. He has retweeted comments and replies saying that the protesters wearing scrubs and PPEs were in “costume”.
This isn’t the first time Herbosa has been in hot water for his tweets. In April, he apologized for his “death by community pantry” tweet, a response to the death of a woman while in line at a community pantry. A day later, Herbosa resigned from his post at the University of the Philippines, where he served as executive vice president beginning in 2017.
Prior to that, he was also criticized for sharing a rape joke on his Facebook account.
Read: Bataan vaccine center’s choice of entertainment goes viral
Editor’s note: An earlier version of the headline mistakenly referred to the IATF. This has been corrected.
