It’s been almost eight weeks since we were all placed under house arrest. The pandemic, the cause of it all, has shown no visible signs of slowing down despite global efforts to institute stringent measures to stop it from possessing and thriving inside human hosts.
The home of the brave, the United States, has decided to bite the bullet. In the face of opposition from health experts and the general public, POTUS Donald J. Trump heeded the call of Southern states to reopen their borders and restart the nation’s stalled economy.
Alabama, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa are the latest states to commit to reopening their coronavirus-ravaged economies despite dire warnings that doing so is too soon and could result in a new surge of infections. Fourteen states that are home to more than 95 million people have so far started reopening or announced plans to reopen. As of April 29, the US has tallied 1,035,765 pandemic cases, 59,266 deaths and 142,238 recoveries.
Here at home, President Duterte declared on Monday the relaxing of quarantine restrictions in low- to moderate-risk parts of the country in a gradual regenerating of the economy starting May 1, and continued quarantine until May 15 in areas that have yet to stabilize the rate of infections. According to Duterte, some sectors of the economy, such as construction, might be allowed to “partially” open, but under strict public health regulations to prevent the spread of the virus. As of April 29 the number of people infected in the country has swelled to 7,958 with 530 deaths and 975 recoveries. Public transportation and selected businesses in specific industries will be allowed partial resumption of operations in parts of the country where quarantine restrictions will be loosened.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), the temporary government body assigned to oversee the country’s response to the pandemic, was completing guidelines to be implemented in parts of the country under the “general community quarantine” imposed on Metro Manila and other parts of the country with high infection rates. GCQ is the government’s term for limited restrictions in areas with low-to-moderate rates of infections; the opposite is “enhanced community quarantine” (ECQ) or lockdown.
Is the virus about to leave us soon? Microsoft Corp. cofounder Bill Gates said that, without a vaccine, the world cannot expect a return to normalcy. And even when a cure is found, we would have to face the new normal.
Overzealous, trigger-happy ECQ implementation
The police are again facing public backlash over their “heavy-handed” implementation of ECQ rules. The public is now on edge and perplexed about what to do if the police were to barge into their private residences, accost homeowners, and arrest them without valid court-granted warrants. And even outside their dwellings, people can be beat up or shot dead. Contrast this scenario with Chinese workers of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) who are even being given police escorts to evade quarantine checkpoints, while fake Chinese doctors operating illegal hospitals in Manila enjoy the due process of law.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Army (PA) on Thursday both called for an investigation on the shooting of a former soldier suffering from mental illness who was killed by a cop in a quarantine confrontation in Quezon City.
The killing of former Private First Class Winston Ragos by the gun of Police Master Sergeant Daniel Florendo of Quezon City Police Station 5 highlights the brutal enforcement of ECQ regulations. Ragos who suffered from mental illness received two fatal gunshot wounds. Despite joint efforts of the PNP and the PA to get into the bottom of the incident, the public still could not comprehend why a simple violation of ECQ is now almost equal to the crimes of rape, murder, and terrorism. Ragos was buried with military honors.
On April 27 a fish vendor was mauled and dragged by Quezon City authorities for not wearing a face mask and going about his business without a quarantine pass. Members of the Office of the Mayor’s Oplan Task Force Disiplina repeatedly hit Michael Rubuia with a stick. The residents in the area were incensed and could be heard shouting: “He’s a human being; not a pig.”
And then the issue of whether the police can invade private properties came to light when the Makati City Police tried to arrest Javier Parra, an expat, who lives in the posh Dasmariñas Village in Makati. The incident was caught in a viral video, which thousands of people have viewed.
The point here is that ECQ is a community regulation that should not usurp or prove supreme over established laws enshrined in the Constitution. There is no justification for a warrantless arrest. The police at all times should respect civilian supremacy. They have to observe maximum tolerance even in the face of hurtful provocation. They are mandated to protect and not do harm to the public. Rules of engagements are clear. Force should only be applied if there is imminent and grave danger to the arresting officer. In all these cases, I see no reason for the police to have acted so brazenly.
Shackling the seniors
I had a lengthy engaging talk with my long-time friend, National Geographic awardee and travel photographer George Tapan, who’s worried about the rules crafted by the Department of Health (DOH) which will be enforced by the government that seeks to prevent senior citizens or people 60 years old and above from going out of their respective homes. George and his wife are empty-nesters who fend for themselves. Their children have all grown up and living with their respective families. George is gainfully employed, and his work entails a lot of travelling. He’s as healthy as anyone else younger than him.
George is a perfect example of an able-bodied senior who is still in the thick of the game. I have friends much older than me by 10 to 15 years who are even more agile and stronger than me. They are, like George, gainfully employed and enjoying their life to the fullest. I really don’t know how this rule was crafted. Was it well thought out by people with sufficient research data about senior citizens? Or was it created by a person who has two or three decades more to live before being entitled to senior-citizen discounts? Maybe, someone over 60 years old helped draft this rule, a senior citizen who can stay home 24/7 without worrying about where to get money for his or her next meal. There are many seniors who are much healthier and more productive than those alcohol-guzzling, bar-hopping, pill-popping, party-going millennials. Most people aged 60 and above started their careers in their early 20s. Just consider the contributions they have made to the country through all these years either through the taxes they paid or the level of know-how they have shared to keep our economy growing.
The proposed mandatory quarantine for seniors is ill-conceived. The DOH assumption is not based on any conclusive study or research. I hope Atty. Romy Macalintal reads this because senior citizens across the country need his voice.
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