WHEN will it end? The virus started its spread in late 2019 and it spread like wildfire and reached its pandemic proportion in early 2020. It slowed down a little bit in April and May 2021. In the United States, athletic activities resumed. Even countries like Israel, England and some in Europe started unmasking. The sports centers were already filled to capacity during the recent games of the NBA. Even outside the coliseums spectators were shoulder to shoulder and no health protocols seemed necessary. Then came Delta. So come the new challenge. How do we contain the new variant? The experts are in a mad rush.
The whole world is expecting a vaccine that will halt the pandemic. At this point, many respectable pharmaceutical companies are in a rush to discover one but no one can say when this can be made available. In the meantime, life goes on. Safely I can say that we are lucky in Pampanga compared to other communities in the country. In the roster of local leaders there is Governor Dennis Pineda who is on top of the situation. Likewise, the executives like Angeles City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin and Mabalacat Mayor Cris Garbo. Both Lazatin and Garbo announced the jabbing of their respective constituents will almost be completed by November this year. In the meanwhile, there is a heightened restrictions in entering the province. As a reminder to people who wanted to travel. Bring your identification cards. Better still if you are already vaccinated, bring your vaccine card.
I wish to seize this opportunity to make an unsolicited suggestion to the local governments of both Angeles and Mabalacat. A careful study should be made on the end results of an imposed liquor ban. The two cities cannot be compared to towns like Sta. Rita, San Luis Candaba or Apalit. They don’t host hotels, casinos and many restaurants. There will be little effect or none at all on a liquor ban advisory. Each time a liquor ban is imposed on the two named cities, more than half of the employees will either to take a forced leave or be out of work permanently. Clark Freeport, which hosts many hotels and restaurants, and which most part under the regulatory jurisdiction of Mabalacat have to temporarily cease operations in most cases. Both Filipinos and Korean customers will rather stay home where they are free to have their beers and Soju. Same in Angeles City. If beers, wines, soju will be banned on restaurants, there’s no reason to dine outside. It is a loss of income for hotels and restaurants, so it will be a prudent move on their part to lay off employees or give them unexpected vacations. Many of these employees live on a daily subsistence.
Notes: The 57th induction ceremonies of the Rotary Club of Angeles scheduled August 3 was postponed due to the new restrictions. This was announced by President Andrea Licup Go. An announcement will be made once there will be a new date...To those who are interested in buying my book Trending Max, you can drop any Friday morning at Bale Balita inside Clark Freeport.