Is longer ECQ necessary?

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

A group of people gathered in Quezon City to demand food rations. The police broke the small assembly and brought them to the station apparently to be charged for violating the enhanced community quarantine. If the quarantine lasts longer, we can expect more of these gatherings.

Hunger knows no law, especially when parents see their children are starving.

There is a lot of publicity about food rations and unemployment money. But that is as far as they go. We are already receiving information that the money promised by the Department of Labor is not for all but selected ones. An employee, sent home and wait for a call to return because the company stopped operation when the ECQ was enforced was told by her boss that their company was not listed with DOLE although the company had informed DOLE about their cessation of their company that caters to diners and tourists. It is a big company with over 300 employees.

An employee also called her parents in a city outside Bacolod to inquire whether they received the reported food packs from the mayor. She was told the packs were distributed only to the supporters of the mayor during the last election.  This is not surprising because the mayors and their barangay officials have a list of their supporters, the voters they corrupt each election.

We received a message from a friend who said that two men broke into their mother’s house in a subdivision. They asked for money and when she said she did not have, they pushed her down and she played possum. The two simply looked for what they could get and left without harming her. They obviously just wanted money. We received another report of the same modus, this time in Mansilingan.

From the beginning of the ECQ I feared that anarchy can explode when this quarantine will last longer than what people can bear especially when hunger begins to take their toll. To repeat, hunger knows no law and the police force is not enough to stop thousands on the streets. I pray this situation will never arise and that our politicians do not play politics with hungry people. Their actions are not only illegal but immoral that cries to heaven for vengeance.

There is merit in the idea of DILG Secretary Eduardo Año that the extension of the ECQ beyond April 14 is “not advisable” as the present quarantine “is already working to curb the further spread of covid-19.”

He added, “It’s not advisable to extend the lockdown because our economy will suffer greatly. Let’s take the remaining two weeks seriously so we can solve this.”

A longer lockdown period may be considered if there is exponential increase in novel coronavirus-positive cases and fatalities, especially in Visayas and Mindanao. There are now more zero cases and the incidence of suspected cases had flattened.

Except for Metro Manila and several Luzon provinces, the virus had been checked especially in Negros. A list published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer the other day showed that in Occidental Negros there are only five cases in Bacolod, and one each in Cauayan and E.B. Magalona.

These cases had been kept in isolation so that their chances of spreading the virus is practically nil. Moreover, Bacolod and the province had been locked down for over 15 days that chances of new cases are also improbable. The seven cases can either recover or sadly deteriorate but believing the opinion of the experts these cases had already passed the 14 days needed for recovery.

I believe that the ECQ should not be extended in Bacolod and Negros beyond April 14, unless there is an outbreak. Meantime the wearing of masks, social distancing, shortened curfews should continue. Schools need not open and large assemblies prohibited. Churches should be allowed to open for weekday Masses since few people attend them.

Sunday Masses can be held in open spaces, like Panaad sports complex or plazas to comply with social distancing and people can keep their masks on and receive Holy Communion. This is summer and the chances of rain are rare.

In areas with no case of infection ever since can return to partial normal life but keeping the masks and social distancing in the meantime. Borders can be opened but the temperature scan should remain. Others can continue self-quarantine.