Neither here nor there

“A miss by an inch is a miss by a mile.” — Scottish Proverbs Collected and Arranged by Andrew Henderson, 1832, p.103

A CITY councilor here is suggesting that the surge in suicides in the city can be attributed to the decrease in religiosity in young people. He proposes that religious sessions should be made available for children as young as three years up to seven years old.

For religious people, this suggestion would sound feasible. However, to the critically minded, this suggestion is neither here nor there.

Has this councilor made a thorough study into the suicides in the city that he could pinpoint religiosity or the lack of it as the main reason why young people have been offing themselves lately?

In the study of C.S. Clarke, F.J. Bannon, and A. Denihan titled “Suicide and religiosity — Masaryk’s theory revisited,” it is argued that the lack of religiosity does not push an individual to commit suicide.

“The relationship between suicide rates and the religious climate of a community is a matter of controversy. Rising suicide rates have been attributed in part to a decline in religious observance, but contradictory evidence has been adduced,” the study reads in part.

Another study by the Department of Mental Health and the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland points out that religious people are even more susceptible to commit suicide against non-religious people.

By using data from a nationwide psychological autopsy study of all suicides in Finland in a year, authors H. Sorri, M Henriksson, and J Lönnqvist found out that a history of psychiatric inpatient treatment and psychotic and depressive disorders diagnosed in psychiatric care were more common among the religious people than among the nonreligious.

“The burden of major mental disorders have been heavier among religious than nonreligious victims,” the study concluded.

The notion that the suicides in the city lacked or were devoid of respect and fear of god is ignorant and unfair. It is unfair to the parents who have just lost their loved ones. This notion subtly points out that parents of suicides are “bad parents.” It is ignorant in the sense that it does not address suicides as a mental health issue.

Here in the Philippines, having a mental disorder still holds a stigma — a stigma of shame and embarrassment. We should be addressing a mental health issue with science and not public delusions of a transcendent being up in the heavens.

The Philippine Psychiatric Association estimated that one in five Filipinos has mental disorders. With that many people with mental disorders, I think now is the most opportune time to have a public discussion on mental health without the fear of being stigmatized.

In a CNN Philippines report, Dr. Gia Sison, national adviser of the Youth for Mental Health Coalition, said: “No one will never know if a person will be committing suicide or not, but there are warning signs.”

According to the Department of Health, symptoms of depressive disorder are excessive guilt or feelings of worthlessness; diminished ability to concentrate, or indecisiveness; significant weight loss or weight gain; lack of sleep or oversleeping; fatigue or loss of energy; psychomotor agitation and slowness; and recurring thoughts of death or suicide.

We ought to be mindful of our youth who have been stressed by a society that has been so polarized and alienating that they feel helpless. We should remind our young ones that they can talk about depression and that it is nothing to be ashamed of.

To my young readers who feel they cannot talk to their parents please save these numbers: (02) 804-HOPE (4673) and 0917 558 HOPE (4673). There are people behind these phone lines 24 hours, seven days a week.

Don’t be ashamed to call. Don’t be afraid to seek help.

Honesty, that lonely word

“Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue.” — Billy Joel, Honesty from the album 52nd Street

MANY raised their eyebrows a week ago when presidential daughter and Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio told reporters that honesty is not an election issue.

Her attempt to downplay the lies of one of her Hugpong Pagbabago senatorial candidates boomeranged in the most spectacular way. She unwittingly declared that her party’s senatorial slate could not be trusted. So, in another attempt, she doubled down and blurted that all politicians, not just her slate, are liars.

If you come to think of it, there’s a tinge of truth to what she said. As George Carlin once said in one of his gigs: “You cannot introduce honesty in politics. Otherwise, the entire system would collapse.”

Had she provided the context on why she thinks all politicians are liars, I think people would understand her statement. Politicians have their own agenda and they would fight tooth and nail to advance it even if it takes a little lying to undermine their political foes’ agenda.

However, we need not worry about the “Inday Sara Show.” On Sunday, she told reporters that her mom, Elizabeth Zimmerman, reminded her that she may be the President’s daughter but that she is also hers. Her mom reprimanded her for “bullying” the opposition candidates and that she should be kind first and foremost.

“Sinabi nya na I should always be kind first before anything else. So, mag-pack up na po Inday Sara show. Wala na po sya. Sarado na po,” Philstar Global quoted her as saying.

So, that’s that. But a lie is still a lie, no matter the magnitude. Don’t take my word for it. It is enshrined in the 1987 Constitution. “The State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption,” Sec. 27, Art. II, 1987 Constitution.

It is mentioned again in Section 1, Article XI of our Constitution: “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”

No matter how the presidential daughter spins it now, the word is out that she has little, to no, regard for honesty in public service. As the party’s campaign manager, Sara Duterte-Carpio has her work cut out for her. It would be interesting to see how she is going to wiggle her way out of this one as campaign sorties progress.

Yes, she has declared that she will heed her mom’s advice and will stop bullying opposition candidates. However, she forgot to explicitly mention that she will stop lying for her senatorial candidates.

So, honesty, in her vocabulary, is still a lonely word.

Tagged

“‘The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable’” —  attributed to Finley Peter Dunne, “Observations by Mr. Dooley,” 1902

MY family and I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the people who supported us when we found ourselves dastardly embroiled in a vilification campaign a fortnight ago.

We would like to thank our friends and relatives in the human rights groups, Armed Forces, and National Police for their assurances to get to the bottom of the cowardly list of supposed members of the communist movement. You who did so without fanfare and communicated with us privately, thank you.

We also extend our gratitude to the support of local and Southeast Asian media community. You who issued statements and wrote news articles about the red-tagging, thank you. Even estranged friends came out and posted their support on their Facebook walls. It was a humbling experience. Thank you.

Red-tagging is one of the hazards any practicing journalist faces. So, you can just imagine how mortified I was when I saw that the cowards included my wife and son.

My wife, son, and I condemn the cowards who included us in the anonymous list of supposed Communist Party of the Philippines members here in Cagayan de Oro City.

We are not, have never been and never will be members of CPP.

My wife is a marketing executive with this paper where I am the associate editor. My son is a regular staff in the Commission on Elections in Region 10 and is currently serving in the commission’s city office. He is also currently studying at Xavier University College of Law. Our credentials are readily available.

We denounce this list as it is not only aimed to intimidate me in my work as a journalist but has endangered my family. We know full well that red-tagging is a virtual death sentence.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen cited a 2011 journal article which defined red-tagging as “the act of labeling, naming and accusing individuals and/ or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy… by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the State.’”

As if the red-tagging was not enough to mute me, trolls of a certain local political party rode on it for their own political ends — their comeuppance will come too.

On my end, I will not let this cowardly act push me to silence. I will continue speaking truth to power. I will continue to tell the story of the downtrodden, the marginalized, and voiceless people of the Republic.

#HoldTheLine