Infographic #YolandaPH (Philippines Haiyan) Update, Agence France Presse: More than 7,700 dead or missing, 4 million displaced or rendered homeless (data, image and graphics by Agence France Presse)
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.
“My sympathies to Patrick and his family. I met Patrick, Owens and Ana in your office when i was in the Philippines. The generator is a big help to the residents of that Barangay in Tacloban. In 2012 our hospital donated eight old pulse oximeter machines that we used for our medical mission in 2012….
(blog admin’s note: i googled pulse oximeter: it measures whether your body is absorbing oxygen properly; and not below 95% saturation; when a patient starts losing oxygen, the doctor has less than three minutes to prevent brain damage, heart failure, death; the device is useful for patients under intensive care, emergency treatment, surgery, recovery, etc. and sets the universal standard for patient care. )
From Myra again (continuation of letter): ”In the 2012 medical mission, I emailed our hospital CEO and President (same person) and we donated the eight pulse oximeters to the Philippine Minnesotan Medical Association (PMMA) medical mission. We performed about 80 ENT/OB-Gyne surgeries and 63 pediatric plastic surgeries, and diagnosed and treated thousands of medical cases.
“ I’m writing our hospital CEO again to ask if our hospital can donate again the pulse oximeter machines we are not using anymore. Although I won’t be able to join the medical mission , hopefully I would be able to get these machines. The medical mission in January 2014 will be in Catarman and another province in the Visayas region.
