ALL HANDS on deck.
The cry made by a captain to summon all the members of a crew to the deck when a ship is caught in a storm has come to mean, in the contemporary sense, everyone working hard and helping during a crisis.
In the fight to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (Covid-19), mobilization at the grassroots has proven to be crucial for mitigating the hardships experienced by citizens under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
From educating how the implementation of the ECQ affects the community to delivering crucial assistance and support for various problems and concerns anticipated to peak as the ECQ progresses, the leadership of the local government units (LGUs) is crucial for marshalling local stakeholders to cooperate and respond efficiently and quickly to individuals and households.
Various experiences in Luzon, which went under ECQ earlier than the rest of the country, and Cebu validate that cities, towns and barangays are the key to delivering services in partnership with other stakeholders, including nongovernment organizations, private volunteer groups, officers of homeowners’ associations (HOAs), religious leaders and local entrepreneurs.
Crucial during crises, factual and verifiable information from the authorities, as well as from citizens, is channeled through LGU workers, sitio leaders, HOA officials, senior citizens’ organizations, “kapilya (chapel)” organizers and other informal opinion leaders.
The distribution of the daytime quarantine pass was channeled very efficiently, conveniently and safely through the barangay network. Workers went house-to-house distributing the passes that allowed only one member of every household to go outdoors during non-curfew hours to conduct essential business.
Many Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu City residents commended on social media their respective City and Barangay Governments for the responsive house-to-house distribution of ECQ passes, which spared citizens from risking exposure to Covid-19 that queueing at the City or the barangay hall for registration would certainly have entailed.
In contrast, several Cebu City residents decried on social media their LGU’s decision to limit the quantity of ECQ passes that prevented barangays from distributing one per household. The policy of the Cebu City Government to limit the number of people circulating within Cebu City forced some barangays, such as Talamban, to print local quarantine passes that grant permission for one household representative to secure their needs within barangay boundaries.
However, in exceptional cases of residents needing essential services not available within their barangay, such as regular dialysis treatments at a hospital located outside their barangay, the competition for Cebu City Hall ECQ passes angered and discouraged many citizens.
With the certainty that as the ECQ duration stretches, people’s needs for a responsive, pro-active and humane government working with civil society will escalate, communitarianism is urgently needed to combat the social isolation, economic deprivation and anxiety leaving many individuals, families and communities vulnerable.
A principle that emphasizes the reflexive responsibilities of the individual to the group and the group to the individual, communitarianism will guide citizens and leaders in stepping forward to fill in the gaps and chasms exposed during the ECQ.
Being on the ground and engaged in social media, grassroots stakeholders should generate community dialogues and action addressing local needs and problems, such as pinpointing disparities in the delivery of essential services, vulnerable individuals or households, opportunities for supplementing household resources and maintaining peace and order.