Velez: Dilemmas and decisions

Velez: Dilemmas and decisions

IF THIS was a classroom recitation, both explanations from Kim Chiu and President Duterte's will not make the grade. But at least I understand Kim's predicament, having chosen celebrity over education at a young age.

But the President needed to be clear especially on his message Tuesday. We are a couple of days away from May 15, the last day of the extended enhanced community quarantine and other quarantine levels in the country. Will the lockdown be lifted and we can finally step out of our homes and slowly go back to work?

But the problem is he did not. The messaging was again, ramblings, and blamed the NPA.

NPA? Me and fellow Mindanawons, because we know Duterte-speak, decide to "interpret" what his NPA means. No Proper Answer. Na Perwisyo sa Ayuda. Nilinya Pero Alaw. No Proper Amelioration. No Plan Again. Nice Palusot Always! These answers are based on what we see and hear.

"The Duterte administration can't decide because it's caught in a dilemma of its own making, says Sonny Africa, executive director of Ibon foundation. It's a dilemma based on what they had done and what they missed out.

Our country has one of the strictest lockdowns. We have more arrests than cases of infections. Authorities have arrested people but failed to arrest the spread of the virus.

In Metro Manila, a report said only .87 per cent of the population had undergone testing. That makes about 1.67 million of its 12.8 million population. We have been fighting the virus in the dark.

If we based our decision on the curve, we are nowhere near flattening the curve. The joke now is the graph risen to 8,000 and has flattened on that level.

What has flattened instead are the pockets of the people, most especially the workers, and social amelioration that is sporadic and erratic. Worse, there are flatlines, like the murder of Bayan Muna leader Jory Porquia in Iloilo, and the ice cream vendor in Tagum City who died in the provincial government office asking for relief.

The president, and this task force may be in a dilemma amid its lack of implementation. Extend the ECQ and people will go hungry. Lift the ECQ and expect a second or even third wave of rise in infection, and our frontliners will be exhausted again.

But Africa said it bluntly. "Not being sure whether the curve is flattened or not doesn't have to get in the way of deciding. Decide one way or the other AND do what needs to be done -- dilemma gone."

A deadline is coming, we need to pass our papers, cramming the Pinoy way.

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