EDITORIAL - Going blind on human dignity

If the government does not want former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to go abroad for medical treatment, then it should just say so instead of coming up with limp explanations that do not hold water and only serve to insult the collective intelligence of the nation.

The government may be correct in saying Filipino doctors and Philippine facilities are up to par with the rest of the world. But it does not follow that just because this is so, the state can now dictate on citizens to see only local doctors or use only local facilities.

The matter of choosing one’s doctor is a matter of personal right and cannot be dictated on or usurped by government. A patient needs to have someone he can trust and confide in. This is precisely the reason why patient-doctor confidentiality is deemed inviolable anywhere.

Just because the person in question happens to be the most-hated enemy of this government does not give that government the right and the moral ascendancy to make medical decisions on her behalf. That remains the exclusive right of the person herself, hated or not.

It is also preposterous for the government, from the president down to his spokesmen, all of whom have no medical background to speak with authority on anything medical, to make up their own medical conclusions about Arroyo or to argue with her doctors’ findings.

The reason this administration won’t let Arroyo go is because it wants to humiliate its worst enemy in front of everybody, parading her as its biggest catch in an anti-corruption drive that has become the biggest smokescreen for political persecution and personal vendetta.

Publicly, this government says it fears Arroyo might fly and not return despite the fact that prior to her arrest, Arroyo already went abroad eight times and returned each time, all of them during the Aquino administration.

Arroyo may now be facing charges, but as she has not yet been convicted she ought to be allowed to continue enjoying her right to presumption of innocence. This government loses all its claims to moral ascendancy if it cannot assure equal rights for everyone, Arroyo included.

Besides, what kind of government is it that, in its zeal to clean up society, bulldozes everything in its way, including the right of citizens to their health and human dignity simply because they happen to be perceived as dirty?