November 1 - 15, 2018
OPINION
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
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Breaking
Point
By Rosette Correa
It’s a slippery slope. We opened
the gates, and now we are paying for
it.
Canada approved the assisted-
suicide law in June 2016, and we
thought it would end there, literally.
Now, in the May issue of Paediatrics
and Child Health, pediatricians raised
the issue of a possible future where
“mature minors” may be eligible for
MAID (medical assistance in dying).
There’s a number of errors in this
sentence, I know, and one of them is
semantic in nature.
The words “mature minors”
refer to children under the age of 18.
The words “mature” and “minor” do
not go together. It’s called a really
bad oxymoron. Children aren’t legally
allowed to smoke, drink or vote until
the age of 19. They are not allowed to
work until the age of 16. They can’t
join the military or be tried as adults
in court because they are children.
Their brains are still developing, no
matter how “mature” they are. This
is precisely why parents must always
be part of the discussion on crucial
matters in everything a child does,
including healthcare and dying.
Another issue with this is that
because their bodies are still developing
and changing, and diseases may go
into remission and be cured. This is
proven by some adults who have gone
into remission despite their terminal
diagnoses. Children’s bodies need
time to develop immune systems and
get used to changes, and to kill them
Life etc.
by Jun Cordero
Just recently in Mexico two
innocent people were irresponsibly
terrorized and murdered, thanks to
a WhatsApp post that went viral.
Reports say that two villagers, a young
man and his uncle, from an upcountry
farm came down to the nearby town
to get some supplies. Unfortunately
for the two men it was a bad timing as
the town was in the grips of news that
two kidnappers on the loose were on a
rampage snatching child for organs.
One super-vigilant man spotted
the two villagers and immediately
concluded he just found the wanted
kidnappers and spontaneously posted
his discovery in WhatsApp. Some
people began accosting the two
villagers that the police, aware that
the two strangers were not the wanted
men, had to bring them to the station
The slaughter of the innocents
in the middle of these changes
is criminal.
This is also the reason why the
American Pediatric Association warns
us about allowing children to transition
from male to female and vice versa
because they may be emotionally and
psychologically not ready for lifelong
changes such as these, and their
bodies have not developed properly
yet. This has been proven with teens
who have gone through gender
reassignment and gone back to being
their original gender.
Despite the terms “mature” and
“capable” to describe how a child may
deal with their illness, these so-called
professionals are deciding on the fate
of children, and may take away the
parental rights that would help these
children decide otherwise. What is
happening with decisions like these
is that people forget that compassion
and love is what people who are in
extreme pain need. They do not need
an injection that would end their lives.
They need people to let them know
that they are loved and are important.
This is where palliative care comes
in, and the government simply does
not want to spend for it, because it is
cheaper to get rid of the body than
care for it. Even if it were a child.
The paper, in the Journal for
Medical Ethics, is “intended as a road
map through the still-emerging legal
and ethical landscape of paediatric
MAID.” I have another problem with
this. As far as I am concerned, this
publication and what it publishes
should not be called
Medical
Ethics
because it does not
have any at all.
The
most
alarming issue with
this report is that
there is a possibility
that parents and other
family members will
not be involved if the
“capable patient” were
to indicate that they
do not want family
members involved. A
secret. In other words,
if a “capable” child
wanted
medically
assisted
suicide,
they have the option
not to have their family notified. It is
truly heartbreaking to see or simply
imagine children and youth suffering
from illness and pain so terrible they
wish to die. I can’t imagine how hard
it would be for a parent to have such
a discussion with a doctor.
But think about how much
terrible it would be if such a talk
took place without the parents being
required. The child will be already
distressed and confused, and to have
no one beside him/her to decide what
he/she will do is worse than the death
sentence we as a society and medical
practice will offer him/her. That is the
ultimate crime we will all commit if this
bill passes, because we will be part of
the deaths of these children.
Earlier this year, Belgium put
to death a 9 and an 11-year-old. The
only other country in the world where
the practice is allowed for minors is
the Netherlands. The population of
Europe is dropping fast, and they
have a crisis in their hands because
they have chosen to play God.
They have chosen to go beyond
the killing in the womb, now they
have given themselves a law where
they could kill innocent children,
as well as incapable adults who just
need compassion and care. Canada
is slowly becoming one of those
countries who feel that a few people’s
clamour for rights has to become
each citizen’s burden. This madness
needs to stop, for the sake of future
generations, if we will have any left,
after the slaughter of the innocents.
Rumors, fake news, real news, whatever
to keep them away from the people.
Soon enough the WhatsApp
post went viral and the townspeople
cried for blood. The drove of people
then proceeded to attack the police
station and dragged the two men
out. After beating them almost to
death they poured petrol and burned
them. And that’s the cost of a reckless
rumor.
In this time and age of super-
fast social media a simple rumor such
as this can turn fatal. Technically, of
course, in social media it is categorized
as a rumor. But when it hits the news
media it upgrades to fake news. The
big problem is that social media such
as Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook
gets viral even before the rumor gets
to the news media, and victims suffer
the consequences before the real
truth is revealed.
We all think social media and
internet are some of the wonders of the
modern world but we have to realize
that anybody can conjure something
up and share it to the whole world at
a click of the mouse. In news media
(newspaper, television, radio) a battery
of editors reviews the materials for
accuracy and truthfulness before they
are published, although not as fast as
social media.
A recent BBC item on the
Philippines reveals how supporters
of the Marcoses have been exploiting
the social media apparently to push
the remaining Marcos family back to
political power. Supporters are now
claiming that all the charges against
the Marcoses were just fake news
during that time. Even the ageing
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
Juan Ponce Enrile, in an interview,
claims there never was any citizen that
was tortured or killed for political or
religious reasons during Martial Law,
and so never happened.
So which one is real news and
fake news now? Well, here’s a simple
test for you, just answer fake news
or real news (something like our
elementary school true or false quiz).
Ferdinand Marcos imposed
martial law (yes, real news). Imelda
Marcos had thousands of shoes (real
news). The Marcoses keeps more
than $5 billion of the country’s money
(yes, yes, real news!) Imelda Marcos
was recently found guilty of graft and
corruption (yes, real news!) Imelda
Marcos finally going to jail (duh, fake
news - sorry no can do!)