(Today’s column)
As we were sitting down to dinner on Tuesday, my husband asked if I had heard about the Filipino mother who killed her three children then committed suicide. I remarked how life seems to imitate fiction citing an old episode of CSI where, before stabbing herself, a mother stabbed her children to death to preserve their being “angels”. Our younger daughter, Alex, said it was like the plot of the movie “The Others,” too.
My husband, who heard about the killing over the radio, then relayed the comments, indignation and condemnation by radio commentators. When I started searching the Web for news articles, I realized that the radio commentators were merely repeating a theory of the police handling the case. Isn’t that amazing? The killings took place on Tuesday morning and by midday radio commentators were repeating a theory that, in the tradition of AM radio culture, was being made out as a fact.
The news wire Associated Press published a story based on the police theory entitled, “Destitute Filipino mother kills 3 children, self” which closes with an observation that a third of the Filipino population lives on less than US$1 per day. The title and story were repeated in Asia Observer, Straits Times, Hong Kong’s The Standard and The Bangkok Post, among others.
The surprising thing is that most people (including bloggers who have picked up the news) are willing to accept poverty as a motive and do not even wonder why the physical evidence does not match the police theory. The mother, Janeth Ponce, left a suicide note asking relatives to take good care of her children. That doesn’t sound like she intended to kill them, does it? Worse, no autopsy has yet been performed because relatives wouldn’t allow it. So how did the police arrive at the conclusion that the mother forced her three children to drink toilet cleaner because she was desperate over their poverty-stricken situation?
Life would be simpler if we can just stuff everything neatly into boxes and label them accordingly. But there is never a simple explanation as to what drives mothers to kill. Culture and social norms play a role in many of these instances. For instance, how many fetuses and newborn infants have been found in trash cans and cardboard boxes? How many mothers got rid of their babies this way because they are unmarried and they feel ashamed?
Lifestyle, beliefs and peer influence are factors, too. Just last month in Baltimore, Javon Thompson, aged one, died after he was denied food and water by his mother, 21-year-old Ria Ramkissoon, on orders of the leader of 1 Mind Ministries, the group the mother belonged to. Javon was not fed because he refused to say “Amen” after meals. The cult leader said that if their message had been heard, Javon would be resurrected as a “divine sign.” Instead, Javon’s body decomposed. Ramkissoon’s mother (who does not belong to the cult) says her daughter should not be blamed because she had been brainwashed by the cult members although she does not deny that Ramkissoon joined 1 Mind Ministries voluntarily.
Last year, in Barja, province of Khurja, Uttar Pradesh in India, a woman abducted and killed a three-year-old boy to help ease her desperate poverty. But although poverty drove her to desperation, it did not exactly drive her to kill–she did it on the advice of a tantrik, a travelling “holy man” who told her that for the sake of her family, she had to sacrifice a boy from her village. The UK newspaper Guardian reported that the woman’s adult sons “performed a puja ceremony, reciting a mantra and waving incense. Sumitra smeared sandalwood paste and globules of ghee over the terrified child’s body. The two men then used a knife to slice off the child’s nose, ears and hands before laying him, bleeding, in front of Kali’s image.”
Finally, there are mothers whose motives and values defy conventional explanation. Take the case of Ohio’s China Arnold, 28, who was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday (Manila time) for putting her one-month-old daughter in a microwave oven. The conviction came after a second trial where the prosecution’s evidence rested largely on an alleged confession by Arnold to her jail cellmate, claiming that she (Arnold) killed her child because “she was afraid that her boyfriend would leave her if he discovered that he was not the baby’s father.”
Killing a child, especially one’s own, may sound abhorrent and unforgivable for those raised with Christian values. But remember that, to test his faith, the Christian God told Abraham to kill his son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. Sure, Abraham’s God stopped him at the last minute but there is the clear implication that, under certain circumstances, killing one’s child is justified. Obviously, people vary in their interpretation of what those circumstances are.
You can’t possibly be defending something so abhorrently wrong as the killing of children. It’s just wrong regardless of era or culture! When the darkness reaches even the heart of a mother I fear for ourselves as a species.
Whose standard of wrongness do we use here? You should see animals kill their young just to “save” them from being harmed by humans or other animals.
Religion is the root of all evil; as pronounced in your latest entry. Most of the killings and murders committed in human history have been because of religion. Isn’t it ironic that the same god who told us “Thou shall not kill” is the same god who told Abraham “Kill your son as an offering to me”? Such a double standard… It’s like we are being set up for failure. On the one hand, we are told to listen and follow god; on the other, he’s giving us conflicting orders. I don’t understand why people could think there is any justifiable circumstance to killing any living being. There just isn’t any. Period.
Kai, re “Most of the killings and murders committed in human history have been because of religion.”
Oh, I agree. The Crusades, the witch hunts… even today’s wars in the Middle East have religious underpinnings. In fact, we don’t have to look so far — in Mindanao, they’re fighting for the right to live based on their religious beliefs.
Whose standards? How can instinctual behavior of animals possibly be projected onto human norms of behavior? I can’t cite any culture or tradition — civil or religious — that condoned or sanctioned the murder of children. The acceptance of the killing of children is the first step down the slippery slope to genocide.
Miguk, there are. Try the Aztecs, the Mayans… (link to Wikipedia article).
Firstly, I am Catholic and I am still learning about my faith and beliefs.
I think God was testing Abraham’s loyalty to Him. God would never have allowed Abraham to kill Isaac. I don’t think there is an implication here that it’s justified to kill one’s child. Your claim is such a leap.
I believe that the only justified killing by a person who still possesses his/her mental faculties is self defence.
Animals killing their young is not because they pity them, it’s just that a weak offspring is competition for meagre resources and may not pass on the good genes anyway.
The mother who killed herself and her kids (supposedly) was in such despair that doing what she did seemed the only way to go. If she was mentally fit, then she chose to do the bad thing. If she was mentally unfit, she did not know what she was doing, did not know right from wrong at the time she did it.
I think it’s an indictment of how bad we are as neighbours. We live in opulence side by side those who have nothing.
Nina, re “Firstly, I am Catholic…”
No one debates based on religious faith because it is never based on logic. The religious will always insist they are right because faith makes them self-righteous claiming the authority of a higher being that they also always insist is the only true one. I rest my case.
Hi Connie,
I apologise if my comments sounded self-righteous, that was not my intent. I am just struggling to understand how this happened to the mother and her children.
I put “Firstly, I am Catholic” so that there would be no doubt where I am coming from. I participated in the discussion thinking my opinions, though obviously not welcome now, may be heard.
My faith is part of me. I cannot separate from it. It shapes my opinions. However, other people’s relationship with God is none of my business. I’m not a Bible-wielding Catholic nut.
You were the one who ended your article with a story from the Bible. You should at least expect someone to react to it.
Wow, so now you’re suggesting it’s my fault and I’m not allowing you to share your opinion. Wag ka mag-drama, Nina, as though you’re being persecuted here. If I didn’t want your opinion shared here, I wouldn’t have approved your comment.
Hindi na nga kita pinatulan, ako pa masama. Hay, naku, really can’t please everyone.
Hi Connie,
Truce?
I don’t feel persecuted here.
I love your blogs. Enjoy reading them always specially your fiery comebacks.
Sorry from the bottom of my heart.
Hi, Connie! What’s your theory on the case of Caylee Anthony, whose mom Caycee reported her missing a month after she was last seen? Then her grandma reported the stench of a decomposing body coming from the back of the car.
Peace out then, Nina.
ana5678, am not familiar with the case. If you can point to some links, I’d appreciate it.
[deleted for being totally UNRELATED TO THE ENTRY]
Coma, I don’t know how old you are you invite the presumption that you are an adult. There is a difference between issue and personality. The comment thread is for the issue. Some adults learn the difference before they die; most do not.
Hi Connie,
While doing some research for a blog post about infanticide, I stumbled across this post of yours. You bring up some very interesting points, and they’re well-presented. I wasn’t even aware of the foreign cases you mention.
In case you haven’t already picked up on the Caylee Anthony case, here’s a link to the current wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caylee_Anthony
Casey Anthony goes on trial in March 2009. She has pled not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. Can’t wait to see what sort of story she comes up with this time.
Cheers!
Burke
Thanks for the link, Burke. Very interesting case.