Today’s Editorials & Cartoons: Save our girls
The Editor
PHILIPPINES
Philippine Daily Inquirer
EDITORIAL- Save our girls
The passage in December of the law declaring child marriage illegal is indeed a “major victory,” as announced by its proponents in Congress.
Fundamentally, the law recognizes the necessity of providing children stronger protection against sexual abuse, and thus states that facilitating and solemnizing a child marriage, as well as adults cohabiting with children, are now a public crime. It prescribes a fine of at least P40,000 and imprisonment of up to 12 years for officers, parents, guardians, and other adults found to have fixed, facilitated, or arranged such a marriage.
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In an effort to justify child marriage, it’s often said that under Islamic law, marriage is allowed for boys who have reached the age of 15 and girls who have had their first menstruation. Muslim lawyer Amanah Busran Lao called it an “obsolete” law that also violates children’s rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Not that, as Lao correctly pointed out, religion or culture should solely be blamed for child marriage: If the roots of poverty are not addressed, she said, “child or arranged marriage will continue as a practice.”
But there’s a ray of hope, or a boost to the continuing struggle. Sen. Risa Hontiveros, one of the authors of the bill in the Senate, said in November 2020 when it was passed on third and final reading: “Today, we give our girls a chance to dream, to define their future according to their own terms…”
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/148579/save-our-girls
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COMMENT:
Can a Muslim DU30 implement the law?
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We need to unlock more of Omicron’s secrets
LAST week, OCTA Research fellow Fr. Nicanor Austriaco boldly declared that the Omicron is the “beginning of the end” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Omicron is going to provide the kind of population immunity that will stabilize our societies and should allow us to reopen after Omicron has begun. It should provide the population protection that we need everywhere,” the microbiologist said.
A recent Social Weather Stations survey shows at least 80 percent of Filipinos hope that the “worst” phase of the pandemic is over. That could be a sign of what a virus expert describes as “variant fatigue.” That’s when people start to accept that “this is what viruses do; we just need to get on with our lives.”
“Variant fatigue” is just a more fancy term for complacency.
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The Philippine Star
EDITORIAL – Shorter isolation
Omicron is less severe than previous coronavirus strains such as Alpha and Delta, but it is wrong to describe the latest COVID variant of concern as “mild,” according to the World Health Organization.
While the WHO has taken note of the milder infections attributed to Omicron in countries such as South Africa, the variant can still cause severe infections and even death especially among those with comorbidities.
Omicron is also infecting even the fully vaccinated and boosted. While those who get such breakthrough infections are often asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms, moderate cases can still seek hospital care, adding to the number of patients seeking confinement. Because of Omicron’s high transmissibility, the sheer number of patients can overwhelm hospitals.
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Since the government is encouraging home isolation to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed, there should be an aggressive information campaign all the way down to the grassroots, providing simple instructions on accessing telemedicine services. People with possible COVID symptoms can then get immediate attention and find out if they qualify for home quarantine. Since the new policy on the isolation of infected HCWs has become a contentious issue, the government should stick to doable measures amid Omicron’s spread, and implement them quickly.
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Pilipino Star Ngayon
EDITORYAL – Gawing abot-kaya ang COVID-19 test
Hanggang sa kasalukuyan, marami pa rin ang bumibili ng paracetamol at gamot para sa sipon at ubo sa mga botika. Ang lagnat, sore throat, ubo at sipon ang mga nangungunang sintomas ng COVID-19 at ito rin ang sinasabing senyales ng Omicron variant. Magkapareho ang sintomas kaya naman ang mga tao na nakakaranas ng lagnat, sipon at ubo, umiinom na ng gamot panlaban dito
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Nararapat nang kumilos ang national government ngayong dumarami ang kaso ng COVID na pinaniniwalaang Omicron variant. Magsagawa ng libreng RT-PCR test para lahat ay mapaglingkuran. Kung ang lahat nang mga mahihirap na may sintomas ng COVID ay mati-test, mapipigil ang pagdami ng sakit at agad silang maihihiwalay sa karamihan. Ito sana ang gawin ng national government para makaiwas sa lalo pang pagkakasakit ang mamamayan. Kailangang abot-kaya ang COVID test.
KOMENTO: Unprepared or no planning at all the National Government.. DOH ..
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The Straits Times says:
Dealing with scourge of online scams
1.12.22
Scammers using fake text messages have targeted at least 469 OCBC Bank customers in recent phishing scams in which the victims have lost around $8.5 million in total. OCBC is not the only bank to have been targeted by fraudsters: Customers of DBS Bank or POSB, too, have felt their malevolence. Indeed, banking scams are part of a wider criminal use of the Internet to compromise everyday computer and online activity, to say nothing of threatening telephone calls from fake authorities that make victims drop their guard and composure to go along with the tricksters’ demands. Scams are nothing new. If anything, they are like a mutating virus which evolves constantly, updating its technique every time the devious methods of a previous attack are uncovered, revealed publicly and dealt with.
Sophistication marks the attack on OCBC customers. It is apparent that scammers have access to advanced software that enables them to spoof telecommunications services and send SMSes that appear in the same threads used by real organisations. Even if victims do not provide their one-time passwords, they fall prey when they enter other bank details on fraudulent sites. In the circumstances, customers are entitled to ask whether Internet banking remains as safe as it is claimed to be. It is one thing for banks to say that their security systems have not been compromised, but another when unsuspecting customers find themselves duped of their money, which sometimes cannot be recovered.
READ MORE: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/the-straits-times-says-dealing-with-scourge-of-online-scams
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BANGKOK POST
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EDITORIAL COLUMN
Haze cannot be ignored
Air pollution may be a non-immediate threat but it’s a serious danger to public health and more attention should be given to resolving it.
As we have seen with winter, PM2.5 fine dust pollution has returned to envelop Bangkok.
Yesterday, the air quality index in several parts of the city was at the unhealthy red level, as it has been occasionally over the past few months.
READ MORE: https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2246099/haze-cannot-be-ignored
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