Following the viral reaction online, several organizations, requesting anonymity, launched rush donation drives in order to provide monetary assistance and support for the families of the pedicab drivers Carcillar and Mateo. These donation drives were done in the span of one week and amassed funds enough to cover the estimated expense for funeral services of the drivers.
The tragic story of Taft-based pedicab driver Reynaldo Carcillar’s death on the rainy Friday evening of June 21 reached viral proportions over the internet, sparking debate and discussion in social networking sites and online forums about the University’s protocols on assisting outsiders.
The incident was brought to attention through a Facebook post released June 26 by student Christopher Chanco (IV, AB-CAM). As detailed in Chanco’s Facebook post and the subsequent articles released on TV 5’s Interaksyon, Carcillar was found laying motionless in the gutter on a sidewalk near the North and South Gates, presumably in that state for more than half an hour. Carcillar had apparently suffered a second heart attack or stroke, following another attack that struck in 2009, according to his wife Carmencita.
According to the reports, a couple of security guards from DLSU arrived at the scene to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Chanco reports that aside from the two security guards, one MMDA guard, and two police officers, nobody stopped to help.
He recalls that none of the cabs nor cars he hailed stopped at the scene, until a motorcycle driver, a barangay tanod by the name of Agot Perez, stopped and finally agreed to take Carcillar to Ospital Ng Maynila.
The DLSU guards and the clinic nurse mentioned in Chanco’s account relayed that Carcillar could not enter the DLSU Clinic for medical assistance, for that would require permission from the DLSU administration or the security office.
Another incident that fueled the online discussion happened a week earlier, when another pedicab driver by the name of Jonas Mateo died after being stabbed by the companion of a thief within DLSU’s peripheries, reports Interaksyon.
According to primary witness and Mateo’s nephew John Paul Escovido, DLSU agents chased the suspect, Jimmy Liban, and brought Liban to DLSU’s security office. With nobody else stopping by to help transport them, Escovido eventually drove his uncle to Ospital Ng Maynila 30 minutes after the incident.
A matter of policy
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Campus Services Josemari Calleja confirms that the security guards who assisted Carcillar acted on protocol in dealing with the situation. One guard who is trained in CPR was called to administer, while two others directed traffic and hailed passing public utility vehicles (PUVs) to transfer him to a hospital.
“The protocol in place prior to the incident is to administer first aid to an affected person then to bring him or her directly to Ospital ng Maynila or Manila Adventist Medical Center,” Calleja says. He also adds that Carcillar was not denied entrance into the University. Rather, there was no call or request for him to be brought in.
Calleja explains that the protocol was designed for quicker response, and that this was a revision of a previously existing protocol that instructed security to bring anyone in need of immediate medical attention to the University clinic. What incited this first revision was an incident from two years ago wherein security guards rushed a patient to the clinic where he was assessed, but was then transferred to a hospital emergency room.
According to Calleja, the old system consumed too much time. However, with its revision, the University did not take into account the possibility of nobody extending further aid, “It was assumed that a public vehicle or a good samaritan will readily provide transportation assistance.”
Carcillar’s death prompted the University to again revise its protocols. The Safety and Security Office (SSO) is now instructed to call for the use of internal vehicles such as the University’s ambulance in the event that no PUVs or other motorists offer assistance.
Addressing the apathy
“It’s a sad situation in which we all have our shortcomings,” says Br. Ricky Laguda FSC, President-Chancellor of DLSU. “I believe because of this tragedy, each Lasallian and Filipino should come out the better for it if we acknowledge where we we fail to act in accordance with our core values and how we can be more Christ-like.”
Arnel Galgo, Sectoral and Multi Sectoral Advocacy Engagement Coordinator of the Center for Social Concern and Action (COSCA), sees the incident as a wakeup call not only for the University, but for other academic institutions as well.
He believes that the root cause of such incidents is institutional apathy, or society’s indifference towards the impoverished, which he considers as the true fault in the situation. To address this apathy, Galgo stresses that the value formation program of the University should be strengthened.
He adds that the University should not be blamed for not accommodating the pedicab driver, asserting that it was not the University’s role to directly help the underprivileged, but rather to mold students to become empathetic enough to make their own initiatives.
He further defends the school’s response, saying that the security guard, by acting on protocol, represented the University and not only himself or the SSO. The security guards are equipped with first-aid kits, and are trained to quickly administer first aid in such situations.
Following the viral reaction online, several organizations, requesting anonymity, launched rush donation drives in order to provide monetary assistance and support for the families of the pedicab drivers Carcillar and Mateo. These donation drives were done in the span of one week and amassed funds enough to cover the estimated expense for funeral services of the drivers.
He mentions that in reaching out to the poor, students and organizations should not end with providing monetary assistance, but by empowering those afflicted to support themselves. “Ang pagbibigay that is charity. You don’t stop with pagbibigay… You first do charity, [and] then teach them how to fish,” he says.
“I invite Lasallians to view this tragic incident with a greater resolve to be more Christ like in the way we treat persons with dignity and compassion, furthers Laguda. “This is a task that cannot be accomplished by individuals working alone. As a Catholic University, we are a community of learners, trying to search for what we can do together for the good of society, in spite of our shortcomings.
“This is a challenge for all Lasallians: to justify our human and Christian existence at all, as an institution of higher learning and Lasallians, we need to continually engage ourselves with what our Faith tells us to do: we will be judged for what we do or fail to do for the hungry, the thirsty, the hungry, the stranger seeking shelter, and the naked seeking clothes.”
“More than any individual, more than La Salle as an educational institution to respond, it is the responsibility, the challenge of the whole society, the whole community… and more than that even, the responsibility of all communities [where] the same situations are happening,” Galgo concludes.
Illustration by Tin Evangelista
One reply on “Pedicab drivers’ deaths prompt discussion on University policy”
Hi good day. In MHO…the “apathy” problem is external. Thus, even if we try to teach/improve/develop “the” social concern of our students, it is not directly in line with the current issue because the apathy observed in the Carcillar incident is external. Most of the people outside the university are not Lasallians. Given that the said protocols hindered the guards and the nurse to bring Mr.Carcillar within the university premises, that protocols is a bigger reason why DLSU should think about its supposed inhumane reaction to the incident. The good samaritan is not just good in helping other people, but he should be willing to bend some rules/protocols to be able to help other people, especially when they are in the brink of death. Good thing that DLSU revised the specific protocol, and this is good enough for the future.