MANILA - Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Tuesday pledged to donate her 1-year salary amounting to P2.1 million to a trust fund to help coronavirus-positive health workers of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).

This, after SPMC Chief Dr. Leopoldo Vega revealed that 12 of 300 medical workers at the state-run hospital in Davao City have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In an interview with the Davao City Disaster Radio on Tuesday, the mayor said she felt accountable for the health workers, citing her decision to tasking solely the SPMC to accept coronavirus-positive patients.

“I felt somehow nga involved ko because ako tong nagsulti sa Department of Health nga gamiton nato ang SPMC. Pagkabasa nako sa announcement ni Dr. Vega nga 12 kabuok [nagpositibo], nagsakit akoang dughan. So naghuna-huna ko what I can do para sa ilaha,” Duterte-Carpio said.

(Somehow I felt involved because it was me who told the Department of Health that we only use SPMC. When I read the announcement of Dr. Vega that there were 12 [who tested positive] I was heartbroken, so I thought of what I can do for them.)
The mayor said she would give P50,000 each of the SPMC frontliners who tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Kabalo ko nga dili mabayran ang ilahang kakulba, ilahang hadlok, ilahang hago, ang inconvenience. But at least man lang they have money to buy things that would make them feel better," Duterte-Carpio said.

(I know that their worries, fear and inconvenience cannot be compensated in any way but at least they have money to buy things that would make them feel better.)

Eleven of the health workers have been cleared and discharged from the hospital.

As of April 13, Davao City has recorded 90 coronavirus infections, with 52 recoveries and 14 deaths. - with a report from Hernel Tocmo, ABS-CBN News