MORE than a month ago, after a long wait the initial vaccines from China the Sinovac and the Astra-Zeneca arrived. It gave much hope to everyone and the expectations rose that the wearisome and going crazy staying home persons like me resulting from strict quarantine punched the air and exclaimed: At last! It is indeed very hard to overcome boredom, particularly for outgoing people like me who always wanted to be with friends, either playing cards, dining and drinking in our favorite watering holes or merely chatting almost anything from politics and early adventures with women.
But wait. The virus mutated and deadly variants are on the rampage and filling hospitals with Covid patients. Tents were erected on parking areas of hospitals for those waiting treatment. The hospitals are in full capacity. Remember the singer-businesswoman Claire De La Fuente? She was lying on a makeshift tent on the parking area of a medical center for two days and expired later. The most painful for family members is that you cannot even be on the bedside of a love one who is on near death situation. No visitors allowed even family members. So the patient suffers alone until the last breath.
No blame game, but we cannot fail to notice what is happening. The realities on the ground. Here are the news coming out of mainstream media:
PALACE: NO ADDITIONAL AID FOR EXTENDED LOCKDOWN. The strictest quarantine was imposed. The government allegedly no longer have the funds. No more ayudas. In Pampanga, we call it deyuda, pati yung walang kilong bigas. In short, kanya, kanya na. Government can no longer respond to the needs of those governed.How sad.
8,000 WORKERS LOSE JOBS UNDER STRICTER LOCKDOWN. Immediately 8,000 lose their jobs. That means less or no food at the table. The number of workers given the pink slips is increasing by the day. More business establishments particularly small-medium-enterprises (SMEs) are closing shops due to strict health protocols.
COMPENSATION FOR HEALTH WORKERS NOT IN BAYANIHAN 3. How many frontliners are falling ill and some died in their battle against the corona virus? We lose count now. Doctors, nurses, orderlies and maintenance people working overtime are overtired, and what is sad: they are underpaid, particularly the nurses. Hospitals now are making bundles of money. They are making a killing. No pun intended Heard from Covid-19 patients are charged huge for four or five days in the hospital.
NOTES... Hospitals in the Metropolitan Manila are full to capacity and they can no longer accommodate Covid-19 patients. In a report filed by Tonette Orejas of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, it said hospitals in Pampanga started receiving patients coming from Metro Manila. The virus is on the rampage. Governor Dennis Pineda has rented two hotels as isolation centers. The two hotels are addition to the already existing ones.... If we have to believe the press releases of San Miguel Corporation, it is claiming that they already spent P13 billion last year for “its charitable response to the pandemic.” What is sad, SMC focused its efforts only in Metro Manila, Cavite and Laguna. None here in Pampanga as far as I know. SANA ALL. I don’t even know if they have a communication office here in Pampanga. It was unlike during those years when the late Oscar Villadolid and Ely Tumbaga who handled the giant corporation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Those were the days, they never came back.