Teachers raise funds to cover hospital bills

Fellow teachers are raising funds to help pay hospital bills of the 39-year-old public school teacher who was hit by a government-issued vehicle of Cebu City Councilor Richard Osmeña in barangay Banilad on Friday night.

Grade 4 teacher Junrey Sanchez is in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Chong Hua Hospital recovering  from an operation to re move a blood clot in his brain.

The hospital bill has reached  more than P100,000 since his confinement last Friday night, said Lily Ann Go, principal of Banilad Elementary Schoool.

Sanchez was walking to a chapel across the school to attend a Mass when the accident happened.

The  car was reportedly driven by the councilor’s driver Ronald Badajos but Osmeña was not on board.

Councilor Osmeña told reporters  he was willing to  assist the family and that the accident victim is being treated as a beneficiary of the City Hospitalization and Medicine Program (CHAMP).

The program, however, has a cap or spending limit for each beneficiary.

“I go to the hospital  everyday to check the condition of the patient and the family. As of now, it’s under the care of CHAMP,” the councilor said.

“During our visit last Saturday, he was still unconscious but according to his relatives  he was able to move his fingers today,” Go told Cebu Daily News.

The vehicle had  come from the airport where the driver picked up a package and was on its way to the councilor’s house in barangay Guadalupe.

To  help raise funds for  the teacher, Go, the principal,  she went to their division office yesterday  requesting for a memo to be circulated to all  teachers in Cebu City appealing  to donate financial assistance to Sanchez’s family.

Sanchez, 39, is married and has two young sons.

They live in barangay Bacayan, Cebu City.

Last Friday, the school had their Teacher’s Night, but Sanchez left ahead to attend Mass because he was assigned to deliver the prayers of the faithful during the liturgy.

“I was only informed of the accident after a teacher  approached me.  We even called the ERUF twice to rush him to the hospital,” said  Go to reporters.

She said they immediately followed to the hospital.

A few minutes later, the car driver Badajos also went to the victim’s family assuring them and relatives that he would help pay the medical bills.

Sanchez handles the class subjects Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP) for six sections and has one advisory class.

He has been teaching for about fives years and is one of the 45 teachers handling around 1,820 students of the public school.

After the accident, officials of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO)  conducted a re-orientation seminar for grade five and six pupils to reminding  them to use the skywalk in crossing the street.

Amid questions about the nature of the car trip, the Cebu City General Services Office (GSO) said it will check if a trip ticket was issued for use of Osmeña’s vehicle.

Engr. Dionisio Gualiza, GSO head, said governtment-issued vehicles should only be used for official purposes.

On reports that Badajos was not the vehicle’s official driver, Gualiza said he still has to verify the records.