THE JOURNALESE

Mailayo lang sandali sa Coronavirus...

Dahil tanghali na ako nagising at habang nag-aalmusal, I received a private message from a journalist friend, Johnna, asking me if I am now with BM, an acronym for Business Mirror, so I replied, no.

She said, Martin (referring to Usec Martin Andanar, who was also a former colleague in media) read a question during a Media Briefing yesterday in Malacanang attributing to my name with BM as an agency.

Some years back, I did applied to Business Mirror before joining the DILG, but that time they preferred a business writer over a political reporter which is not my cup of tea.

Seated on my left is Johnna Villaviray then with the Manila Times and Mavic Angeles on the right, was then with dzEC Radio Agila. While I was then with Radio Veritas 846. The photo was taken at the Senate's PIMRO circa 2000

 

Puzzled? Yes. Admittedly, there are times that I am asking myself or sometimes wanting to be in the mainstream media. While my present work allows me to still do what I know and love, although on a different fence, but this is not the season for me to go back to my first job. Besides, I no longer have the adrenalin of a 25-years old who would love to chase the stories and the news sources regardless of the risk. I am now 45, still in the recovering phase following a mild stroke three years back.

 

In times when I feel like expressing myself, what I do is pen those thoughts and put it in my personal blog like this one.

AT LEAST FOR A MONTH

MANILA---Roughly two weeks into the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) the national government has suspended majority of its operation except those in the frontline services---hospitals, uniformed services such as the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, DOH, DILG, DND, DSWD, DOTr, MMDA, financial institutions, local government units and Barangays among others are still operational. While the schools on all levels, as well as the government workforce are temporarily suspended although there are government offices that are operating under the skeletal force and work from home schemes.

Also, the Luzon-wide lockdown that has been implemented by the President on March 16, 2020 are being carried out by provinces such as Davao City to possibly avert the spread of coronavirus. At present, there are already two confirmed cases in Davao.

 

Photo credits to Philstar.com

However, as a move to ensure that the economy will not further dip into the plunge some entities are allowed to continue its operation among which includes the Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), banks, remittance centers, financial institutions, grocery stores, water utilities, food business and deliveries, drug stores, market vendors, grab deliveries, pharmaceutical firms and media outfits are allowed to perform their functions.

 

While the names of international stars like Tom Hans and wife Rita came out and announced that they have tested positive to coronavirus, also NBA player Kevin Durant. Here in the Philippines incumbent Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri was the first high-profile local personality that went out publicly and admitted that he was positive with Coronavirus, followed by actor Christopher De Leon. We have in fact lose many innocent people, medical frontliners who in the performance of their sworn duty have risked their own safety and lives.

 

Meanwhile, as China slowly inching to managed COVID19 and has not so far registered a new case, our local statistics however, continue to spike. As of this writing, the country has listed 380 confirmed COVID19 cases, 25 deaths, 15 recovered cases and huge number of PUIs and PUMs.

 

At first I am just being cooperative to the government, and to my agency as the DILG is member of the IATF for COVID-19, but after learning that a friend suspected with coronavirus has died, I realized that we in the public has to take this disease more seriously. Because containing COVID19 is not only about ourselves but also about the welfare of our loves ones. How we, Filipinos handles this tragedy lies the future of Philippine as a nation.

 

Hence, we may not know what is in store for all of us but perhaps we can try at least for a month to really cooperate. Let us stay at home and refrain from going out especially if you have the needed supply for your family's basic needs. Because if you don't care enough for your house members, there are a lot out there like me--hoping that this crisis will end soon for me to be able to see my mother and brothers again. 

 

But unless there are uncooperative people who continue loiter the streets our chances of winning this crisis will remain dim.

 

THE SERIOUSNESS OF COVID19 vs PUBLIC RESPONSE

As early as February 2020 I have been frequently hearing the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov) or now known as the new Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) yet, I never bother to really check this concern to personally understand the extent and seriousness of this treacherous pandemic disease.

But since the danger has finally come down to the Philippine territory this March including the National Capital Region (NCR) which is the center of political, commercial, marketing, and social activities, hence, it prompted me to finally do some readings to fully understand this COVID19 that has put the nation in a state of a public health emergency.ully understand this COVID19 that has put the nation in a state of a public health emergency. 

It says that COVID19 comes from a large family of viruses that puts animals and human beings vulnerable to respiratory infections starting from the common cold to severe diseases like the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) up to this new COVID19. While there are continuous reports of suspected COVID19 cases, as well as suspected PUIs in some areas of the country including the rising number of countries afflicted with this disease, there are people who tend to ignore the appeal of the government and the medical community worldwide to protect.

Photo lited from Google through https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/15/20/philippines-covid-19-death-toll-now-at-12

On March 12, 2020, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in a public address aired over national television the national government’s decision to implement a community quarantine as a move to contain the deadly virus.

Community quarantine is different from the most feared “lockdown” which is being implemented in countries such as Wuhan in China and Italy where huge the number of its populace are afflicted by the coronavirus.

Here in the Philippines, the government has implemented the imposition of community quarantine to supposedly regulate the movement of the public to further avert the outbreak and/or infection of COVID19 to the people in the community especially those who have weak lungs or problems with the respiratory system.

While the government, media, and international medical organizations are making so much noise appealing to everyone to help contain the virus by refraining from going out, sadly, this big chunk of the NCR population continues to disregard the appeal. Much, these undistracted people are mostly belonging in the socioeconomic classes D and E.

Coronavirus is a serious threat to everyone, in fact, it can take away the life of anyone of us including our beloved family members without really identifying the cause or origin of our infection. Thus, I deemed it proper for the government to cascade its information campaign in depressed communities using their local and community parlance to better understand and appreciate the message.

The world is facing a very serious problem, yet the most vulnerable sector which comprises the majority of the Philippine populations remains to be uncooperative. It is on this note that the police, barangay and possibly the military should step in to compel these people to follow if they cannot show their cooperation. We must understand that as humans, we only have one life to live. Therefore, we need to be responsible for our life existence. And as human creatures, we are bounded by the norms in order for us to peacefully exist. This includes recognizing other people’s right to live, health, and peacefully coexist.

As of this writing, we now have 140 confirmed COVID19 cases with eight mortality. Thus, it is my prayer that the numbers will stop these current statistics, and those that were infected will eventually recover and heal. #