Briones: Don’t me

Briones: Don’t me

DON’T. Just don’t.

You crushed whatever resolve I had left when you reverted the city to enhanced community quarantine back on June 16, 2020.

And now you’re saying you’re optimistic that the city’s quarantine status will be downgraded in the coming days.

Is this supposed to be a joke? Because I am not laughing.

You are toying with a million souls--well, almost a million, anyway – who are tired, who have been humiliated, who have been insulted and who have been living in limbo because the City Government can’t seem to get its act together.

And by “you” I just don’t mean Environment Secretary Roy Citamu, whom the President entrusted to oversee the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) situation in Cebu, although it was Cimatu who recently said restrictions in certain parts of the city would be eased so they could concentrate on the top 20 barangays with a high number of Covid-19 cases.

I’m talking about authorities in general. And yes, that includes you, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, who was so confident the city would retain its general community quarantine status back then.

It might have been naïve of me to have actually believed you then. After all, I was well aware of the city’s Covid numbers and had heard rumors of what was really going on in our hospitals. But I shared in your belief that there was no turning back. That the only way was forward. That is, until the President dropped his bombshell.

Labella is also saying they are considering the sequential lockdown of certain sitios, streets or households. I’ve heard that before. I don’t remember when exactly, but I remember wondering if the term “granular lockdown” really existed or did they just make it up to sound impressive. You know, like that “New Normal Oasis for Adaptation and a Home” or Noah complex. Who came up with that? Better yet, why?

But I’m not playing the blame game here.

Because, despite what some people say, I truly believe that Cimatu and Labella and all the other city officials are doing their best to fight this pandemic. Even the men in uniform who man the quarantine control points with their heavy firearms. Yeah, even them.

So don’t get my hopes up.

I have eyes. I see what’s going on. But that doesn’t mean I know what’s going on. From the start, we have received conflicting reports about Covid-19. It doesn’t help that there are so many on social media.

Granted a lot of people have had nothing better to do in the last three months but post varied information about the disease – some have been useful, but some have been complete nonsense – and I understand.

They are groping for answers. They, like me, are in the dark. We thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel back in June, but we all know what happened next.

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