I WROTE about the emerging “new normal” in the past weeks. By “new normal” I referred to the government’s plan to normalize and institutionalize the state-imposed practices in the general community quarantine (GCQ) and enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), e.g. social distancing, wearing of facemask;, stricter practice of hygiene and sanitation; curfew hours; no mass gatherings or congregation of mass of people in any public place; controlled identity and movements of people due to more checkpoints; and plan to impose national unified identification card system.
There are also reports that the “new normal” will include occasional lockdowns and total shutdowns in nationwide or in specific areas where government agencies would claim new cases or resurgence of Covid-19 infection.
President Rodrigo Duterte recently threatened to impose martial law nationwide, more arrests and killings, should the CPP-NPA intensifies their armed offensives nationwide, and open democratic allied organizations intensify as well their protest movement against mass unemployment, low wages and benefits, landlessness, extra judicial killings, among others.
This threat which has nothing to do at all with pandemic, nor justify national total citizens’ control, would be tantamount to sweeping assault on civil and democratic rights of the people, should the government include it as one of the “new normals.”
After some serious thoughts and reflections on all of this, I tend to believe that there’s really no “new normal” or “past normal” to talk about. It’s the same abnormal conditions.
Everything is essentially and substantially the same. It’s the same abnormal conditions that most of our people have hated for long and been demanding for reforms and change.
Prior to Covid-19 pandemic, our kababayans have already confronted rising costs of living, low wages and benefits, landlessness, massive unemployment, poverty and hunger, mass housing crisis, poor public health system and other basic services, unchecked spread of deadly contagious diseases like tuberculosis, dengue, HIV, diarrhea, government’s poor anti-disasters management systems, corrupt local governance, and extra judicial killings.
Today, these are the same problems confronting our kababayans. Worse, these are compounded by the state-imposed “new normals.”
Unemployment has worsened. Prices of basic commodities soared, and will likely rose further. Basic services especially transportation, health and education have become more problematic. More small and medium businesses are distressed and may be forced to shutdown for good.
The need to be compliant to the “new normal” safety protocols like facemasks, disinfectant and sanitizers, and social distancing, will be more burdensome to our already poor, vulnerables and low-paid professionals.
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed to the core our country’s poor basic service institutions and the generally unprepared national and local leadership to handle crisis as enormous as this.
The only capable and ready response they could make is the mobilization of the state huge security forces to cover up for their gross weaknesses, incompetence, unprofessionalism and lack of compassion.
Unfortunately, the local government units and officials are forced to bear the brunt of people’s wrath for the national leadership shortcomings. Anyhow, I also do not exonerate local officials who have used this Covid crisis to demonstrate their incompetence and lack of compassion and pocket the money and relief assistance intended for the poor and the vulnerables.
The “new normal” are nothing but additional burden to the already long impoverished, abused, exploited, and neglected citizenry. It is in fact, making the same abnormality appear something new.
My favorite scientist and humanist, Albert Einstein, has this to say, “Insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and still expecting different results.” Well, many of us are not insane yet. My only consolation amid this tragedy of abnormality is my sense of positivity towards the other aspects of the Covid crisis; less pollution, no traffic, lower prices of gasoline (at least for now), less noise, no jamming of public places by people, quiet evenings, and less criminalities.