Saturday, October 20, 2007 Carvajal: Humane treatment of humans By Orlando P. Carvajal Break Point
FOR a city with pretensions at being modern, Cebu City has too many primitive happenings that are otherwise easily preventable. One, for instance, is the chaos and gridlock, serious injuries and even death in the streets which can be charged to the irresponsibility or plain stupidity of those who are supposed to enforce the pertinent traffic rules and regulations.
Governments that put a high value on human life take responsibility for the protection of the life and limb of its citizens through strict enforcement of traffic laws. Responsible governments (translate: governments who care) do not allow motorcyclists, for instance, to ride without a helmet, weave in and out of traffic, go the wrong way and pass other vehicles on either side. They also do not allow four-wheeled vehicles to run without brake and other signal lights or run on worn-out tires that could blow any time.
Humane treatment of humans requires that they are not put in harm’s way by those who are supposed to safeguard their safety and security. So, how wise and responsible is it to allow babies to ride in motorcycles? How wise and responsible is it to allow neighborhood associations to fence off a portion of a busy street so they can hold a wake, a novena or some entertainment where bodily injury or even death is just one careless driver away?
Another primitive thing about Cebu is the high incidence of deaths from rabies. Every death from rabies should be considered stupid and unnecessary because prevention of rabies requires nothing more than strict vaccination of all cats and dogs and the prohibition and capture of stray animals. Yet, there seems to be nothing serious done about it. Stray dogs are still all over the place, most probably unvaccinated for rabies.
On the other hand we have a councilor batting for the “humane treatment of pets” by proposing a stiff penalty to owners who leave their pets inside closed cars. But what about humane treatment of people also through stiff penalties to owners who fail to give anti-rabies shots to their pet dogs and who let them stray? Every death from rabies is totally unnecessary today and the city should take responsibility for it.
Vigilantes, gangs and drugs also waste people’s lives but they are complicated social problems that do not have straightforward solutions. Order and safety in the streets, however, are very manageable propositions requiring nothing more than a little sense of responsibility and dedication on the part of our city’s law enforcers. Ditto on the immunization of all pets from rabies and the impounding of stray cats and dogs. So how about humane treatment of humans first, councilors, at least in these manageable areas?
