Samboy’s family seeks redress
PBA legend Samboy Lim’s family has asked an insurance company, whose global head office has a client base of over 100 million in 56 countries, to establish a P1 Million fund to conduct training in ethics and another P1 Million fund to promote CPR (cardio
Lim’s former wife Darlene Berberabe, a lawyer, said yesterday she never pressed AXA Philippines to pay damages to the family. Instead, she sought recompense by way of AXA putting its agents in line and supporting an advocacy to teach CPR on a mass basis so “others who suffer from heart attack may be given appropriate first aid and lives may be saved or afforded a better chance at recovery from brain damage.”
Lim suffered cardiac arrest during an exhibition basketball game at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig last November. He was not administered CPR because nobody in the gym knew how to perform it. Lim was rushed to The Medical City where he was admitted without a pulse. It was estimated that Lim was deprived of oxygen for at least 23 minutes. He was revived by doctors and his body was placed in a state of therapeutic hypothermia for 48 hours to prevent a recurrence of seizures. Doctors said Lim was in alpha coma, meaning a high probability of never regaining consciousness, when brought to the hospital. Today, Lim remains bedridden and is watched over by three registered nurses on three eighthour shifts.
Berberabe said if only CPR was performed in the gym right after Lim collapsed, his heart wouldn’t have stopped beating. “We heard a 17-year-old high school player collapsed during a game in San Juan recently and died two days later,” she said. “We’re not sure if CPR was performed. If not, it should’ve been. Samboy’s family would like to promote CPR training on a wide scale and we understand a foundation is being put up by doctors for this purpose. We’re hoping AXA supports this advocacy.”
Berberabe said her attention was called by friends and relatives on a Facebook post by AXA agent Marie Goldah Petalcorin Quiblat last April 30. There was a reference to Lim and Berberabe found it offensive. The post showed Lim’s picture and a story about a fund-raising project for him. The post said: “This is what financial advisors have been telling their clients of ending up a beggar to their friends if they don’t take care of their future now especially for critical illness conditions … if it happened to Samboy Lim, who used to be a basketball superstar, it can also happen to you … why shoulder all the bills when there is a trusted partner like AXA Philippnes to secure your future for just a fraction of its cost … ask me how, ask me now.”
Berberabe said the insinuation that Lim ended up a beggar “is clearly and indisputably derogatory and defamatory (as) the statements are offensive by any standard of professional code of ethics or even of basic decency and respect that normal people accord each other.” She said it was disrespectful that Lim’s name was used in a “cheap marketing trick to get people to buy insurance.”
Berberabe said Quiblat’s premise that Lim is begging for money is false. “The basketball fund-raiser was voluntarily initiated and done by well-meaning friends and by people who simply wish to help someone they love and admire,” she said. “These people are the kind who inspire us to have faith in humanity and in the goodness of human beings. The people who use other people’s names for profit without consent, who offend the good name that one has created and nurtured and aggravated by the medically challenging condition that the person is in, without respect nor due regard for basic human decency----these are the people who smack of the worst in humanity.”
Berberabe said Lim’s daughter Jaime, 18, was distraught and upset. “Her father has lived his life with all that a good person with the right values is supposed to do,” she continued. “Who has the right to demean her father who cannot now defend himself?”
In AXA Philippines’ own Facebook page, an apology was made to Lim and his family. The official post said Quiblat “wanted to highlight the importance of financial planning for critical illnesses or medical emergencies … unfortunately, to illustrate her point, she used an online news article on Samboy Lim’s current health condition without his or his family’s consent and in the process, made some erroneous and potentially offensive statements.”
AXA Philippines added: “We believe in the importance of conducting our sales activities in a very professional and highly ethical manner. We do not train nor condone our agents to conduct selling or marketing practices that capitalize on the condition of others. We will handle the matter internally with our agent. We apologize to Samboy Lim and his family and friends for any offense or distress that this situation may have caused.”
Berberabe said Quiblat’s post wasn’t potentially but patently offensive. She said as recompense, Lim’s family has demanded that AXA and Quiblat issue a public apology, that AXA disclose how it will deal with Quiblat’s behavior and that AXA set up a P1 Million fund to train agents on ethics and a P1 Million fund to promote CPR.
In response to the demands, AXA Philippines president and CEO Rien Hemans said Quiblat’s case has been filed with the company’s Compliance and Ethics Committee and agreed that “hurting or putting a person in a disadvantaged situation in order to achieve personal gain should never be tolerated.” Hemans noted that “it is not fair to ask AXA Philippines to take responsibility for the incident that happened … Ms. Quiblat’s post was clearly her own initiative and was personal in origin and was not, in any way, authorized nor initiated by AXA Philippines.”