SELF-PRESERVATION is one principle of the natural moral law. It is the inclination of a person to protect oneself from harm. Harm can mean death, sickness, or injury. The 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD) is now an epidemic. In the spirit of self-preservation, countries are closing their borders and people are closing their doors to possible carriers of the virus particularly the Chinese. This move is both being admired and scorned because the ban can either mean self-preservation or discrimination or yet a sign of animosity to the source country.
The Chinese government takes offense when other countries close their borders to their residents. The total ban implemented by some countries means Chinese are prevented in entering these countries and local residents coming from China are quarantined for a number of days. The Chinese government delivered a message to Indonesia that should they continue to implement a total ban against their citizens, it will certainly affect not only the economy of Indonesia but the relationship between the two nations. For countries like the United States and Indonesia (if they push through with the ban), the move conforms to the principle of self-preservation in accordance with natural law yet for China, this is discrimination in its brutal face.
Due to the self-preservation principle, the norm of society is significantly affected. For instance, in our locality, major activities like the parade of the opening of the Panagbenga Festival and the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (Caraa) were suspended. These are just two of the many other activities canceled or suspended. The Department of Health (DOH) discourages crowd-gathering activities to prevent or delay the spreading of this contagious disease. The flag ceremony is also advised to be held in the classrooms now.
These activities have been part of our customs and systems and it is quite difficult to ignore them. Panagbenga festival means a lot to both locals and tourists. Tourists flock Baguio to witness the flower festival and have a taste of that Baguio vacation experience. For us, the festival is one way of showing our values, traditions, and customs. But due to 2019-nCoV, we will not possibly experience the same lively festival experience. Self-preservation is the paramount priority for our officials. No one could blame them for that.
Self-preservation as one of the principles of natural law is far from being selfish or individualistic. Life is given to us as a gift and it is our responsibility to take care of it. Because of this principle, we understand that excessive drinking, eating, and all excessive activities that can be harmful to our bodies are wrong. We know that when we acquire the virus, we can transfer them to our family members. Being sick means we cannot work and productivity is affected. Natural law is cascaded to us through the gift of conscience. The fear to go the unknown or the fear to fight conforms to the self-preservation principle because we do not want us getting hurt. The nature of the 2019-nCoV is testing our understanding of the principle of self-preservation. In protecting ourselves, are we discriminating against the Chinese and their nation?
President Rodrigo Duterte used the term “xenophobia” as the attitude of many towards China and its residents. He called for a more friendly gesture towards them. He said we are overreacting of the epidemic. The problem is we have different interpretations of the implementation of the ban. Duterte does not want an absolute ban because he thinks this is an attitude of unfriendliness. However, we are not doing anything discriminatory. We are only trying to prevent an epidemic in the country. This virus is definitely riskier than the previous ones. The average number of people affected in a day is 2000 according to sources and the number of fatalities is rising rapidly. The World Health Organization has declared it a global outbreak and researchers and medical world have not found any cure yet.
A number of our fellow citizens are demanding a tighter or yet a total ban for foreigners coming from China. This is not racism or discrimination or being xenophobic against the Chinese if the nature of the disease calls for it. Right now, the number of people acquiring the virus continuously grow and it is highly alarming and threatening. The Philippines is a developing country and for a country like us, containing the virus and preventing it to spread is a gigantic task.
Self-preservation is trying to be free of the virus that can cause bodily sickness and even death. To avoid being discriminating, everyone should not only distance themselves to the carriers or disgrace the source country as our ways to be free of it but by taking care of our body. It is not by spreading fake news providing panic to the citizenry but by doing our duty to strengthen our immune system.