MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
When the two leading lights of the IATF exchange notes because something is worrying them, we should be worried.
Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer, to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra: An increase in suicides has been observed during the lockdown.
Secretary Guevarra: It’s cause for concern.
Those were not their exact words. I only caught their brief exchange by chance as I followed the headlines (in large print) on TV. However, their messages to each other were clear, grave, terse. Neither of them is a doctor, one being a general, the other a lawyer. Missing from the conversation, Dr. Francisco Duque.
Last June, when Metro Manila was in ECQ mode, a senior programmer of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Maryland briefed journalists on “preventing an outbreak within an outbreak,” which I took to mean dealing with life in the so-called new normal. Katherine Balin is a resident of Makati, so she is not unfamiliar with our way of life and how we get on with family, neighbors, friends, etc. She warned of “disruptive new behaviors” such as isolation, fear, and stress, and listed the following “unintended consequences” of a lockdown: more pregnancies, more domestic violence against women and children, decrease in family planning, avoiding health care services in hospitals. Reviewing my notes after I “overheard” the Galvez-Guevarra exchange, I’m now curious why depression and suicide escaped being in Atty. Balin’s list.
I would also need to be curious about what the two IATF officials plan to say and bring up in the next meeting to address the unintended consequence of an increase in the suicide rate. Baguio, whose mayor is a general like Secretary Galvez, tallied 15 suicides from March to July. Only a year ago, Cebu posted a high incidence of suicides, way before the lockdown. In addition, 17 million Filipinos suffer from different degrees of mental and emotional problems.
My own worry is how many children – 2 million? -- will be sad and sorry, upset, angry, in despair because they won’t be “back in school” starting October. Not only will they miss school, teachers, classmates, friends, they’ll have to bear the shame and stigma of being a dropout. I loved going to school. My heart aches for them.