|
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Lusabia: Basic rights
By Clarissa Lusabia
Omega and Alpha
INDIVIDUALS with developmental disabilities have the same rights as everyone else under the Constitution of the United States and the California Constitution.
Those rights include: Freedom of Speech, Right to Due Process, Right to Vote or say 'Yes' or 'No', Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Association, Freedom of Assembly, Equal Protection of the Law, and Right to Privacy.
Our Philippine laws cite similar things, but nowadays, no one knows what they really mean. The opposites are being practiced. It seems that a kilo of rice now is more expensive than the life of any citizen. The pre-occupation now of most editors is not 'freedom of the speech' but fear of libel.
Every man has the right to due process but in reality that belongs only to the rich or those who consider it as 'affordable'.
The poor can just suffer injustice, can be on 'death row', can be killed innocently by hired killers, can be victims of 'massacres'.
It is true that Christ died, and it was an honorable and worthy death because he died for others.
But to kill one's self or die just for your own desires, no way! It has to be 'for others' to make it worthy and meaningful. As for soldiers, defenders of the Faith, etc.
The right to vote is questionable for as long as there is vote buying and vote selling.
One's rights are already choked by the 'villain's ropes' for as long as there is the P200 or P2,000. You remain silent because P2,000 has the 'the power' to shut you up. Now, you clamor against any President. The nerve! It is your own fault. We are three for five now to foreign countries.
It is true that we have the best workers abroad, but that story is becoming part of history and actually smelling stale.
Freedom of religion. Yes, but it does not mean we get proselytized by the dole-out or sham talk of good-looking people. Can you honestly say how many religions we have in our province alone? Shocking! Religion in exchange for rice or for sardines!
Freedom of association. It's fun to talk about this. How many associations thrive on the resources of their poorer members? Another shocking thing. These days nothing is shocking anymore. If your PT who is a paramedic made you sick, it's not his intention. If a doctor says the Church and schools and even parents are wrong in their teachings, well, it's just another school of thought.
Equal protection of the law. Equal? My foot! Only the strong and the rich have 'power'.
Right to privacy. If President Arroyo's conversation with another official was tapped, well you call that 'privacy'. On my landline, my friends and I dramatize.
Why? Because many times we suspect that someone is eavesdropping. Filipinos do not take this topic seriously. Some parents abuse their children when they open letters or 'intentionally' overhear their phone conversations, or even decide who wears what clothes of what siblings.
I take it that even my own PT when he accused me of killing my three male friends, is culpable of the infringement of privacy.
How I cried at the insults he hurled at me! But you see, he is only ignorant, an idiot, and a very poor student of an ongoing research.
The doctor said he was one of the bright students, but that remains to be seen.
A friend who knows the story said if he goes to the US, he will be in trouble unless he changes his lifestyle and attitudes.
It is different there. You don't survive by jokes, or laziness, or by super-duper corruption. US is US and Philippines is Philippines. There it is 'people first'. And patients are never traumatized by abandonment. They are always supportive to the patient. Here, it is 'people who can pay first'.
Why can't the government subsidize hospitals? No wonder, poorer patients are always thrown into the provincial hospital. Remember, MD today means 'money down'.
My apologies to doctors who still honor the Oath of Hippocrates. And administrators who still have humanitarian spirit or Christian values.
Will the real MDs please stand up? Kudos!
(June 26, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
