‘Dengvexation’ – toddlers and tablets

I’d like to think that I coined the word “Dengvexation,” where I put together the term Dengvaxia and vexation, as in “unjust vexation.”

What else can we call the fact that the legally unresolved Dengvaxia controversy that started in 2017 has dragged on for seven years, cost litigants millions of pesos in legal fees and personal time and has effectively caused “unjust vexation” for all parties concerned, even the judges who were tasked to hear the cases.

Time and again, the impartiality of judges has been challenged or doubted, causing one judge to state that individuals who work for the same institution as part of government and the justice system should refrain from mechanically or automatically resorting to placing doubts, if not suspicion, on judges who are not deemed friendly to a group.

Out of exasperation and delicadeza, two judges have inhibited themselves from further hearing the cases in order to maintain their integrity and neutrality in the matter. Unfortunately, the longer the cases take, the more money and resources of the judiciary is wasted. Because the legal, medical and scientific questions have not been addressed, even public health policies are suspended in limbo.

In my humble opinion, it is time for the Supreme Court to take the matter into their hands, treat it as matter of urgency and settle the controversy once and for all. Get scientists and friends of the court to address medical and scientific questions and then leave the legal questions and decisions to the Supreme Court.

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Your smart phone or tablet is not a babysitter. Giving a smart phone or tablet to a baby or toddler is equivalent to giving that child the digital form of a mind-bending drug that in the long term will cause a child to develop various forms of addiction in their future such as online gambling, compulsive online shopping and binge watching.

Even worse, some doctors suggest that early pediatric exposure to and dependency on smart phones and tablets seriously stunt the development of certain parts of the human brain that lead to aberrant behavior and violent tendencies. So how come our legislators, educators and doctors are not highlighting this threat to