Media Law: Yolanda death toll: NDRRMC bureaucratic requirement for the dead to be counted as fatality
Some students (from previous semesters) suggest that essay questions be added to the “objective” questions of exams.
“Essay” questions however are not any easier: examinees who fail to provide any legal basis to the answers beyond saying, generically, “human rights are being violated!!” get zero points.
Here is the BONUS QUESTION FOR THE DEC. 11 EXAM; the examinee has 24 hours from the Nov.- 27-discussion on right of access (we will discuss right of access, so you have 24 hours from then), or up to Nov. 28 at 7pm to post your answer.
The examinee may post the answer in his/her own platform (FB, Tumblr, Blogspot, WordPress) and paste the hyperlink in the comments section here; or may type up the answer in the comments section of this space; or may email it to R addressed to me. You may use either your real name/ student number or pseudonym – in the case of the latter, inform R of your real name.
For five points to be credited as bonus of the Dec. 11 exam (therefore, on Dec. 11, instead of 15 points as bonus, only 10 points max will be provided in the bonus section), you may type in your answer to the following “essay” question (please provide the arguments for the three parties, as stated below):
The NDRRMC, after imposing a gag order on government employees involved in NDRRMC operations, announced last Nov. 22 that the death toll from Typhoon Yolanda would be based on the combined certification of the mayor and the municipal health officer, and not on actual bodies retrieved, and therefore tolled the death toll at 4,198 Nov. 22. This Saturday, the death toll of 5,235 has remained unchanged despite bodies being unearthed everyday.
“(When) Asked why the recorded number of fatalities remained the same despite reports of bodies being retrieved in Tacloban City and other areas, he (the NDRRMC spokesperson) said Interior Secretary Mar Roxas had directed local chief executives to submit official reports duly signed by the mayors or governors to the NDRRMC.
“ “The reports are coming in trickles. Although there are reports that more bodies are being recovered, so far we have yet to receive [official] reports from local chief executives,” he said. “ (inquirer.net)
A netizen took to task the government officials (members of the Liberal Party) who imposed a gag order and are enforcing an “only- certifiably-dead” death-toll-policy, and said it was a violation of the right of access. A follower of the Liberal Party answered that the right of access applies only to records.
For the examinees:
1.Argue for the netizen and provide the legal basis.
2.Argue for the NDRRMC and the Liberal Party in enforcing the policy and provide the legal basis.
3.Argue for the apocalyptic believer that the retrieved bodies cannot be counted as dead because under the “28 days dead gestation” principle, the bodies are still within the zombie zone.
Lawyers based in UP Diliman & Tacloban are sponsoring one generator set to light one barangay in Tacloban: please join us
From Atty. Owens Disini: (Background of this FB message: Atty. Patrick V. Santo lost his father, Atty. Papiano Santo, in the aftermath of super-typhoon Yolanda. Atty. Patrick V. Santo and Atty. Torks Buban hail from Tacloban and are well-known private practitioners . Atty. Owens Disini is the chief legal officer of U.P. Open University, Atty. Ana Bernad is the deputy general counsel for corporate affairs of U.P.. We’re doing this in our private capacity as friends of Atty. Patrick Santo. Here we are when we were with the U.P. Diliman Legal Office:
Here’s the FB message from Atty. Owens Disini) “Dear classmates, Patrick Santo wants to thank everyone for the kind words and condolences he received for his Tatay Paping. He texted me today his account number in Tacloban. For those who wish to send their “abuloy”, it is BPI, J. Romuladez – Tacloban City Branch, Savings Account No. 1126-0191-33. However, an alternative that he suggested is for us to contribute to buy a generator set that he can use and share with his ka-baranggay. Patrick said he just needs the most basic and standard generator (maybe at least 2 hours). He said we can give it to Torks (Atty. Torks Buban) who may have a way of bringing it to Tacloban. So far, I have collected Php23,000 from Eddie V., Lindy and from me & JJ. I need your suggestions on this, please. Thanks.”
Please join us.
Mommy (Lydia C. Lambino, Los Angeles, California) sent her support with condolences and encouragement today , c/o Atty. Ana Bernad (i dropped by the 3rd floor office).
Please join us in lighting one barangay in Tacloban with one generator set. Thanks.
