GOOD news. Bad news. Good news. Bad news. It is like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, as the song goes. The headlines: Magalang Mayor Pecson afflicted with Covid-19. Mabalacat Mayor Garbo Got Covid Infection. Arayat Mayor Alejandrino Got Covid 19. There were other mayors who caught the veerus. There was Capas Mayor Rey Catacutan and Concepcion Mayor Andy Lacson who were in quarantine for two weeks. Thank God they all recovered after the isolation. They are also front liners like those workers in medical institutions. Early on, they were investigated by those stupid idiots of the Department of Interior and Local Government reportedly them skipping the line. Remember the case of Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez? Then the agency retracted, and alas realized the local officials are also front liners.
Everyone suffered and is still suffering as a consequence of the virus spread which in early March of last year even President Duterte didn’t take seriously. The people who took charge are mostly former men in uniform in this fight against the pandemic. Sorry to say, they have failed several times due to faulty and wrong ‘battle plans’. The pandemic curtailed our freedom of movement. Maybe most are staying home now and glued to their tech hardware viewing Korean movie series. The others are on gardening and are learning how to cook. Many became plantitos and plantitas. They can no longer fly on weekends to Hong Kong for their favorite Chinese food, or to Macao for the Macanese dishes and play on baccarat tables and the electronic (slot) bandits. Customarily the super rich several times in a year fly to the Rivieras, Mediterranean, Europe and in the Americas and throw parties on their yachts parked on Sta. Monica bay or at Monte Carlo. What a life! Now no place to indulge and splurge. Coronavirus is global.
This pandemic changed everything overnight. When government decreed this is the new normal, it is not normal. The thing we were accustomed doing before Covid 19 dramatically changed. How could you say it is normal when you can’t even seat beside your wife when dining in a restaurant where it only allows 30 persons? There are no more of those big parties where heirloom jewelries are on display. Our Rotary Club of Angeles which annually we celebrate and throw every April of every year induction ceremonies and then followed by programs and parlor games was cancelled. We seldom see friends now. We see them through zoom. And it is limited to the tech savvy. Very impersonal.
Pity the poor under these difficult times. How long we have to suffer? My son’s two restaurants were closed. He was forced to close shops and gave his more than twenty employees the pink slips. They have to fend for themselves now. Even my friend Manny Alfonso’s Ribeye restaurants which is the watering hole of my friends has to downsize operations, and as a consequence many of the waiters, cooks and office personnel were thrown out job. Hoping they can get back to their old job when government start doing the right thing. How many are thrown out of job now? Millions, and the number is growing by the day. In the meanwhile, the only answer government has in its arsenal is restrictions after restrictions. Parang may masabing mayroon silang ginagawa.