INSTEAD of being angry at what Harry Roque said, we should be thankful instead for that moment of honesty in government.
It’s been 60 days that we have seen Mocha fake news, midnight videos turned into rambling, and plenty of dura lex posts that didn’t help us tide the pandemic.
When Roque said we will be in an ideal world to ask for mass testing now that everyone is going out on the modified lockdown, he’s just saying something we knew all along.
The P275-billion relief package did not reach the poor.
Health officials so far had tested less than one percent of our population. We are ranked 23rd or somewhere lower in our survival chance against Covid-19.
Welcome to the real world. And the world’s a scary sight like last Monday, be it in Manila or in Davao. Cars rushing downtown and thousands of commuters waiting for jeepneys that never came (because there’s no franchise renewal).
It’s a scary thought. How do you like to die? Getting sick, going hungry, or getting caught by cops?
In this real world, a police general gets to celebrate a birthday with a mass gathering and tons of beer. He will not be sacked; he is irreplaceable at this time.
We have 200,000 PNP officers compared to 40,700 doctors. We lost 23 doctors in this pandemic. Who is irreplaceable?
No mass testing. No contact tracing. But five people on social media got traced for venting their frustrations and are thrown to jail.
No mass testing and food relief. While displaced Lumad and advocates get flooded with troll attacks.
Honestly, what has made people especially in urban cities survive are the efforts of LGUs to provide face masks, build testing centers like in Marikina, provide mobile palengkes; and we have activists creating community kitchens to feed the poor.
So how do we survive now in this not-so-new normal?
When the second wave comes, do we sink or swim, without a salbabida and Roque seem to be saying, Bahala na kayo.
Maybe Kim Chiu was right all along. “May ginawa ka, inayos mo yung law ng classroom... ay pwede na pala ikaw lumabas.”
Let’s make ayos our system to survive.
tyvelez@gmail.com