Staff of cebu maternity hospital (CDN PHOTO/MICHELLE PADAYHAG)
In tears, 24-year-old nurse Arianne Mae Pacula yesterday denied placing adhesive tape on the mouth of a newborn boy.
“The mother knows how accommodating I am, unya ing-ani ra ni? Wala man intawon makabuhat ana sa baby. (And this happens to me? I could never do that to the baby). If you look at their face, they are angels,” said the nurse.
Pacula was one of two nurses who testifed for the first time before an inter-agency panel on the May 9 hospital incident that has become an international controversy.
Pacula, a native of Samar, said the mother approached her in the nursery before breastfeeding baby Yohannes, and asked why there was tape on the infant’s upper lip.
“I was surprised when I saw the plaster,” said Pacula. “I presumed that maybe the plaster was there for a pacifier.”
The use of a pacifier, discouraged by health officials for breast-fed infants, was earlier denied in official statements of the hospital but Pacula confirmed seeing one in the baby’s crib.
A panel member from the National Bureau of Invesigation (NIB), Rey Villordo, asked where the tape and pacifier were now and how the items got there.
“Mao na akong pangutana sad. Wala ko kahibalo,” said the nurse, a phrase she would repeat several times in the joint hearing at the Department of Health (DOH). (That’s my question also. I don’t know.)
The two nurses, a midwife and medical director Dr. Raida Varona of the Cebu Puericulture and Maternity Center were presented by lawyer Cornelo Mercado, after they were “invited” to shed light on allegations of child abuse.
Photos of the infant’s taped face posted on Facebook by the child’s angry parents and their account of how an unnamed nurse told the mother the baby’s mouth was sealed to stop his crying because he was “noisy” has stirred a storm of criticism for the private non-stock, non-profit hospital.
Before this, the center enjoyed a solid reputation as a top-rated maternity facility with affordable rates and quality service operating for over 90 years.
With her testimony yesterday, Pacula surfaced as the nurse referred to in the Facebook account as the one who spoke with the baby’s mother Janice Badocdoc.
Investigators yesterday focused on establishing the timeline of events up to the instant Badocdoc used her camera phone to phtograph her baby about 8 p.m.
Two nurses were on duty caring for 23 babies in the 3 p.m. to 11 pm. shift when the incident took place.
Contrary to the on-line account of the mother, however, Pacula said she did not remove the tape from the baby’s face when Badocdoc asked her to.
The nurse said she told the mother she would return to do it later, but forgot about it.
Cebu City Gerry Carillo asked Pacula again if the mother asked her assistance to remove the tape from the baby’s face.
“No, she approached me na ipatangtang lang and ana ko, ako lang anhaon (I just said I would come by later) but I was not the one who took off the plaster,” said the nurse.
In the mother’s Facebook post, she recounted that the nurse first left it to her to remove the adhesive, and when the mother couldn’t accomplish it, the nurse took it off, taking off a bit of skin in the process.
Pacula was employed by the hospital after she graduated from nursing school in 2011.
She spoke calmly for the most part, but at one point became emotional, talking about the effect of the scandal.
“Because of this mura kog na trouble, I feel unwanted. I don’t know why they put the blame on me,” Pacula said in tears.
Her lawyer said Pacula was “really depressed” from the adverse publicity and went on “indefinite leave” three days after the Facebook post went viral.
Kamille Neri, the second nurse on duty, said she didn’t see any plaster on the face of baby Yohannes when she gave him medication at 4 p.m. or at 6:30 p.m. when she checked on him again.
Neri said she saw the mother in the nursery at 8 p.m. and saw her breastfeeding the baby until 9 p.m.
“She left the nursery. I also did not receive any complaints from the mother,” she added.
Her colleague Pacula likewise said that when she started her 3 p.m. shift, baby Yohannes was sleeping and was “without a plaster or a pacifier” in his face.
At 7:30 p.m. she said the mother was inside the Mother and Child Room (MCR) next to the nursery and asked to breastfeed her son.
“I saw her baby and told her (Badocdoc) that her son was sleeping and to just wait at MCR until her son wakes up,” Pacula explained.
After awhile, the nurse said the mother came back to the nurse station and asked her why the child’s face was taped.
“She (Badocdoc) also questioned about the purpose and I presumed na basin sigeg hilak ang bata (maybe it was because the child was always crying),” she added.
The account of who removed the plaster was not clear in the hearing.
Pacula said she left Badocdoc and went to the nurse station. She then heard baby Yohannes crying and the mother approached her asking to breastfeed. “She get her baby from the crib and saw her baby sucking,”she said.
Pacula said she saw the mother breastfeeding at 7:50 p.m. with the baby’s face still showing tape on its mouth.
At 8:30 p.m, said Pacula, the mother asked her to remove the tape on the child’s face.
“I told her na okay ma’am mobalik lang ko sa crib. Ako lang unyang kwaon,” Pacula added, before leaving for the washroom.
In yesterday’s hearing, Pacula said she was “sorry” she forgot to return to the crib help her remove the face tape.
“When I get back for the endorsement, I checked back with aby Badocdoc but the plaster and pacifier were not there,” said the nurse.
Coucilor Carillo asked about the pacifier and whether it was allowed in the hospital.
The nurse said no, as a rule, unless it is ordered by the doctor or the babies are premature infants.
Were you not alarmed and did you tell the head nurse about the face tape, she was asked.
Pacula said she didn’t because she saw the baby was not harmed.
“Wala ko ma alarma sir and wala sad nako gisumbong kay wala man sad maunsa ang bata.” (I wasn’t alarmed, sir, and I didn’t alert anyone because nothing bad happened to the baby.)
In the mother’s turn to testify, Badocdoc said she arrived around 8 p.m. and found her baby “sleeping quietly”.
“When I saw it (the tape), I thought it was there for something like oxygen since I understand he had an infection.”
“As I looked at it closer, it was a plaster and I was surprised. I asked the nurse (Pacula) who was very near us.”
Badocdoc recalled that the nurse told her that “Saba ang baby, sigeg hilak, sigeg pangyo ug milk.” (The baby is noisy, always crying and asking for mil,)
“It’s very hard for me to see my child suffer. I asked her (Pacula) if she could help me untape my son but she was doing something,” she said since Pacula was the only one in the nursery.
Badocdoc broke down and cried in front of the panel, recalling the scene.
“Nasaktan ako, I used oil to untape my son kasi hindi kaya ng alcohol.”
The mother clarified that she “initially” took off part of the plaster to allow the baby to breastfeed but the tape was still there. Then she went to Pacula to ask for assistance to fully remove the tape.
“Sinong matinong nanay na maglalagay ng plaster sa kanyang anak? You have to remember that my baby was under your care and you have the responsibility,” she said.
The photos of baby Johannes taped faced were certified as authentic and not electronically altered in any way, by Feliz Macaraya Jr. of the National Telecommunications Commission.
Lawyer Dante Jadman of Commission on Human Rights (CHR-7) also checked the clock of the white android cellphone of Badocdoc and announced that the photos were taken at 7:58 p.m to 8:08 p.m. based on the timestamp.
Day 2 of the preliminary investigation yesterday ended up with the panel asking the hospital to provide a copy of ther “children protection policy” and a copy of video footage of the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) in the hospital and as well as the logbook.
The hospital has no CCTV in the nursery but has four units in the parking area, two in the passage hall, and one in the cashier.
The inter-agency is headed by the Commission on Human Rights 7 and has as members the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-7), Department of Health (DOH-7), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI-7), NTC, police and Professional Regulations Commission (PRC).