Terry Schiavo

The removal of Terry Schiavo’s feeding tube has been hogging headlines in USA. It has opened a plethora of issues regarding the legality of assisted suicide or euthanasia. Currently, the biggest issue in US is the acceptability of state intervention in family porblems. There is an on-going fight between Terry’s husband and her family over the removal of the feeding tube.

Personally, I think that the real issue lies in what is the humane thing to do rather than what is legal. Although I believe that there are grounds for the legalization of euthanasia, I do not support the decision to remove Terry Schiavo’s feeding tube. There is a very big difference between removing the life-support system of a patient and removing his/her feeding tube. One entails the humane treatment of prolonged pain and suffering and the other one is simply inflicting pain and suffering upon a helpless patient.

Moreover, the morality of the person making the decisions is highly questionable. Obviously, her husband who already has a new girlfriend and children has minimal, or no concern at all, for Terry. How can the government continue to be blind to this fact? The US government should declare Terry’s husband as morally unfit to care for her.

One need not be a conservative or a Christian to realize that a great injustice and inhumanity has been done on a helpless human being. For as long as Terry Schiavo can breath and function on her own without life-support systems, every means possible should be taken to ensure that she continue to live.

Divorce in the Philippines

I recently read in the papers that the Catholic Church is again blocking Rep. Liza Masa’s recent attempt at a Divorce Bill. A Bishop has alleged that a divorce bill would be unconstitutional because the constitution says something about the protection of the family as the basic social unit.

However, this argument can be used for both sides of the debate. The pro-divorce side (which, I am so obviously on) can contend that by legalizing divorce, the sanctity and quality of marriages can be improved. The debate boils down to staying in an unhappy and irreparable marriage or giving up on it despite the promise to love each other “til death do us part.”

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Responsible Parenthood and Population Management Act of 2005

Representative Edcel Lagman has brought another bill into the table, opening up the debate on Population Control once again: House Bill 3773. Personally, I think it is a feasible solution to the population explosion. However, as with other policies and laws in this country, it is important to implement it properly and sustain its effective implementation. Otherwise, it will just add up to the pile of rubbish to which most of our laws belong to right now.

The encouragement, rather than limitation, of two children per family is a laudable and pro-life approach. It is, I think, a pro-active approach which would ultimately help our country reach a stable population growth rate which fits our economic capability. However, I question the means of giving and amount of incentives for compliant families. How can this red tape-laden government do this? And thinking of our budget deficit and insurmountable fiscal crisis, I doubt if the government has enough money to give appropriate incentives to encourage Filipinos to go under the knife to impede them from having more than 2 children.

The more questionable and really disturbing part of the bill is its aim to promote “equality of resources” for all Filipinos. REALLY NOW?! That is something that cannot be attained overnight. Although its intentions are good, I don’t think that it is easy to attain. It does not only entail public information dissemination, but mor eimportantly, a change in mindset and paradigm of the upper and middle classes. Unless those who have more than enough learn to share, there is little that can be done to remedy the economic “inequality” problems we are facing.

Of course the Church has a lot to say about the bill. It is their duty to their faith to do so. But it is the duty of the government to do what is best, not for the greater number of Filipinos, but for all Filipinos. The issue here is not encouragement of safe sex or the promotion of modern family planning methods. Anybody can use any legal means of family planning (which does not include abortion), and the government will not care. But if they do comply with the ideal 2 children per family plan, they will get incentives. And this, I believe, opens a lot of possibilities for Filipinos. If their faith tells them to use natural methods only, nobody will and can stop them. The keywords here are CHOICE and RESPONSIBILITY. Each person’s choice has consequences and the government is just adding another benefit to having less children. So if the Church wants to maintain the “morality” of their followers, they better re-channel their energies from meddling with government affairs to strengthening their ministry.

WOW DAVAO!!!

I have just learned that Davao is not an official tourist destination in the recent version of the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) WOW Philippines campaign. And Cagayan de Oro and Zambaonga or any other Mindanao destination are not included either. Probably, it is more appropriate to call it WOW Luzon and Visayas. Or maybe, it is indeed time to separate Mindanao from Luzon and Visayas and see if those two other parts can survive without us. Compound to this the recent decision of the Department of Environmental and NAtural Resources to lift the logging ban in Mindanao ONLY. Specifically, in Regions 9 and 11 and in the Caraga Region. First we are marketed and sold as a mining venue, and now as the lumber source for wasteful Filipinos elsewhere in the country. Is there no equality left in this country. Is Mindanao really good only as a milking cow??? Because of this, I am persoanlly waging war against DOT and for it to be productive, I have decided to enthusiastically and aggressively promote Davao City. And how can I fail at that when Davao City is one of the best, if not the best tourist destinations in the country???

Davao’s genuine WHITE SAND BEACHES are mere minutes away from the city. And most of the resorts along these beaches do not overprice, they serve great food and offer warm hospitality.

Davao also has a wide range of MOUNTAIN RESORTS 30 minutes – 2 hours from the center of the city. We have Malagos Garden Resort, the Eden Mountain Resort and the numerous rest houses for rent (or for borrowing) along the highway on the way to Bukidnon.

Davao food is incomparable. It is cheap and comes in big serving sizes. And almost everything here is delicious: grilled seafoods, barbeques, Italian food, steaks, Oriental food. Our restaurants are some of the best in the country. And of course, the wealth of tropical fruits in the region adds an extra bonus to the Davao experience. Our fruits are sold at the right price. We have durian, rambutan, pomelo, magosteen, magoes, bananas and everything else in between.

The people are warm, hospitable and helpful. We have effective but reasonable curfew, liquor curfew, and no smoking policies. And despite the bad publicity, Davao has the LOWEST CRIME RATE in the Philippines. We even have an effective 911 emergency assistance system. And of course we have fresh air, fresh clean drinking water (2nd cleanest in the world), clean streets and surroundings, and almost no traffic.

And, best of all our TAXI DRIVERS are nice, helpful, charge properly and give the proper change. They don’t ask for more than what their meters say and they even suggest routes you can take to avoid traffic. In my opinion, they are Davao’s best tourism assets.

So just in case the Department of Tourism forgot, I am reminding them of some of the countless reasons why Davao City is the best city to go to in the Philippines.