BECAUSE he was POTUS, Donald Trump had a powerful influence all over the world, and whatever he says — even the most inane — is bound to be believed by many people.
On April 23, 2020, US President Trump declared in a White House briefing room that bleach may be the miracle cure for COVID-19, and he directed and encouraged his health officials to study the injection of bleach into the human body as a means of fighting the coronavirus 2019.
Here were Trump’s exact words: “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”
Because he was the President of the most powerful nation on earth speaking, many in the Philippines believed him, although some scientific minds scoffed at Trump. The officials and doctors at the Philippine National Police (PNP), many of them trained in the US, Australia, Canada and the West, believed the POTUS and took his suggestion hook, line, and sinker. Thirty-seven days later, an official of the PNP died of bleach inhalation after he was sprayed by his unit with the deadly disinfectant.
‘The life of Police Captain Gutierrez, plucked in his prime, should be a reminder that we all have to think for ourselves, and let science guide us in our daily lives.’
Recently, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed criminal charges against a police general and nine other officers for the death of the PNP doctor from the inhalation of a disinfectant at a COVID-19 quarantine facility in Pasig City two years ago. An investigation revealed Capt. Casey Gutierrez became ill after he was sprayed with sodium hypochlorite or bleach. He died in a hospital on May 30, 2020.
The NBI filed on Feb. 11 the complaints against the PNP officers for the death of Gutierrez before the Department of Justice. Among the respondents are Maj. Gen. Herminio Tadeo Jr., former director of the PNP Health Service, and Lieutenant Colonels Rizaldy Carpio and Romeo Supapo Jr., who were charged with grave neglect of duty, grave misconduct, irregularity in the performance of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
Tadeo, current director of the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, is set to retire on May 24.
Carpio was the manager of the Ultra quarantine facility at the Philsports Arena while Supapo was the officer in charge of the PNP’s chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives unit.
Majors Jona Andanar-Cuevas and Celeste Asilo, Staff Sergeants Christopher Quitaleg and Mario Sanchez Jr., and Patrolmen Louie Jean Duque and Abdul Shattar Zailon III were charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and gross neglect of duty. The NBI also charged Dr. Corazon Flores with gross neglect of duty.
We cannot comment on the legal aspect of this case, but we have a mouthful on how the police, and the Filipino officialdom and the public regard any word from the US President. However unscientific, ridiculous, and inane, when the White House occupant speaks, everybody listens, and often with blind obedience.
The life of Police Captain Gutierrez, plucked in his prime, should be a reminder that we all have to think for ourselves, and let science guide us in our daily lives.
