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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA, Iloilo City and BOY RYAN ZABAL, Kalibo, Aklan
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Saturday, March 4, 2017
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Health workers condemn the killing of Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas, municipal health officer of Sapad, Lanao del Norte, during a protest led by the Health Alliance for Democracy at the Philippine General Hospital Oblation Plaza on Friday, March 3. The Philippine National Police was urged to investigate the death of Perlas, a native of Batan, Aklan. HEAD / FACEBOOK
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GRIEF spread online days after a 31-year-old Akeanon doctor was killed by a still unidentified assailant in Lanao del Norte.
Friends and colleagues of Dr. Dreyfuss B. Perlas, a native of Batan, Aklan, expressed their condolences to his family. Medical institutions called for justice.
“We salute your sacrifices and mission to be of service to the underserved. May justice be given to you,” the West Visayas State University (WVSU) College of Medicine Alumni Association said in a statement on Facebook.
Perlas earned his medical degree from the state university in La Paz, Iloilo City in 2011.
He was a municipal health officer of Sapad town in Lanao del Norte where he had also volunteered under the Doctors to the Barrios program of the Department of Health (DOH).
Perlas was shot while heading home to Lala town on his motorcycle around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1. A bullet hit him on the back and pierced his heart, police said.
His remains were flown to Aklan on Friday. Carried by a C-130 plane from the Pagadian Airport, Perlas’ body arrived at the Kalibo International Airport around 3 p.m. It was taken home to Barangay Poblacion, Batan.
Perlas was the eldest of the two children of Dennis Perlas, a Sangguniang Bayan member of Batan. His sister was Louella Perlas-Patricio.
The municipal councilor, who went to Lanao del Norte to get his son’s body, said they will not stop seeking justice.
According to his fellow WVSU College of Medicine graduates, Perlas “took the path less treaded in the profession.”
“Dr. Perlas embarked on a different calling and stayed true to our College of Medicine hymn…‘We reach out to towns and countryside…for health is wealth, the boon of men, material gains we lay aside. As the poor and needy awaits, good MDs come their way…,’” the alumni said.
The Pamantasan Medical Graduates Alumni, Inc. hopes justice can be served as soon as possible. That Perlas was part of Doctors to the Barrios was “a true testament of his unwavering dedication in providing help to our countrymen,” the group said.
Meanwhile the DOH deplored the “act of violence.”
“We lost a worthy public servant at a time when there is greater need for their unselfish dedication to duty,” it said in a statement. “The DOH is extending its condolences to Perlas’ family and vows to support efforts until justice is served.”
FIT TO BE A DOC
A friend and fellow doctor described Perlas as a “hero” and a “martyr.”
Perlas is a “product of three prestigious state institutions, and with his credentials, training and natural charisma, he could’ve chosen any number of ways to enrich himself elsewhere,” Jorrel Vincent Valdez said in a Facebook post, “yet he chose to continue working in the grassroots, among the poorest of the poor.”
Before studying medicine in WVSU, Perlas was a biology graduate of the University of the Philippines Los Baños in 2007. He was also part of the Development Academy of the Philippines’ Master in Public Management – Health Systems Development Batch 30.
Two days before he was killed, he joined a medical mission of the Philippine Army’s 15th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Karkum, Sapad, Lanao del Norte.
“Dr. Perlas was a rarity, having both the competencies and demeanor suited for a career in public health,” Valdez wrote. “People like Drey represent an immense value to our society, and the compensation he received for this is a bullet to the heart.”
He added: “I join the call for #justicefordrey. Dreyfuss, your memory will always be cherished and your legacy will always be honored.”
The Association of Medical Health Officers – Aklan chapter also expressed support to the bereaved family. It vowed to help the Perlases in seeking justice.
‘RESPECTFUL, LOVING’
Mary Ann Salazar Lopez, a retired teacher and neighbor of the Perlas family in Batan, said she was deeply saddened by the doctor’s death.
“I can still remember the last time we met in Batan during the Fathers’ Day celebration last December where his uncle Isot was the ‘Father of the Year,’” she said. “He (Dr. Perlas) came to me and kissed me on the cheek. That was how he greeted me.”
Perlas was “a good person, a down-to-earth, respectful and loving guy,” Lopez said.
“I asked him why he had to work away from his family and why won’t he just move to our province, and told me na OK naman doon [sa Lanao del Norte],” she said.
Another native of Batan, Amabel Abella Cortes, described Perlas as “a real doctor at heart who served the poor.”
“We, Batangnons, still cannot get over your untimely, senseless death,” Cortes said. (With reports from Aklan Forum Journal and Philippine News Agency/PN)
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