Hontiveros to seek probe into killings of doctors to the barrios

April 20, 2017 - 10:21 AM
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InterAksyon file photo of Sen. Ana Theresia "Risa" Hontiveros

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros said Thursday she will file a resolution calling for an inquiry into the killings of doctors who volunteer to serve in communities as she urged authorities to thoroughly investigate the latest death, that of Dr. Sajid Sinolinding, in Cotabato City.

Sinolinding, younger brother of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Health Secretary Kadil Sinolinding Jr., was gunned down with a security aide while he worked at his clinic Tuesday. News reports said the gunman had pretended to be a patient.

The murder happened less than two months after Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas was killed in Sapad, Lanao del Norte.

Hontiveros described the killings of the Doctor to the Barrios volunteers as a “crime against the people,” noting that only 320 of the 946 slots in the government program had been filled up in 2016.