Life, or livelihood?

By Herbert Vego

 

BUHAY, o kabuhayan? Kabuhi, o pangabuhian?

Wherever and in whatever language, that question keeps us wondering whether it’s possible to choose life over livelihood in the time of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The government wants us to observe “protocols” aimed at “flattening the curve”; and the only “scientific” way to do it is to minimize economic activities and to restrict travel.

Alas, unfortunately, we have so far succeeded only in depriving the “isang kahig isang tuka” masa of three square meals a day due to loss of their jobs or other sources of income.

Our leaders say we have to “sacrifice” for the sake of the unfortunate majority. That seems to be correct until we realize that, on the contrary, it’s the millions or majority of Filipinos who consequently suffer.

The other night, the TV newscast “24 Oras” showed video footage of policemen forcibly closing down a carinderia in Calamba, Laguna because MECQ – “modified enhanced community quarantine” — had suddenly been re-imposed.

“Pasaway ka,” the arresting officer shouted at her for being stubborn.

“This is our only source of income,” she supplicated but in vain; the police would not allow her to sell her trays of cooked food.

You must also have read the newspaper story dramatizing the arrest of a terminated construction worker caught stealing a used, abandoned door that he would sell for two hundred pesos.

“I need money to buy medicine for my wife,” he cried while being booked at the police station for theft.

I could not help but empathize with him, since I had also experienced running out of my bottom peso due to a medical emergency.

Only people with money stashed away may stay at home and still survive. Sooner or later, however, they could also be as miserable as the grounded jeepney drivers who had to beg for coins.

“Mamamatay kami sa gutom,” we have heard them cry on TV. “Hindi sa COVID.”

This week’s bad news from our economic managers is that the lockdowns had shrunk the Philippine economy into  “technical recession” by a record 16.5 percent. It estimated a decline of 75 percent in economic activities.

Is that worth the lives supposedly saved? As of yesterday, the total number of recorded COVID cases in the Philippines in the past six months had hit 126,885, but with only 2,200 deaths or around two percent.

With or without COVID, as I  stressed in a previous column using information from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), an average of 1,587 Filipinos die of various causes daily – around 45,000 per month or 540,000 per year.

Our country, nevertheless, is now the epicenter of COVID in Southeast Asia, edging out previous “leader” Indonesia. The joke is that Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has not been as hospitable to visitors from China as his Filipino counterpart is.

Couldn’t our government have fought the coronavirus without sacrificing the fragile economy?

“Sa paghahangad ng kagitna,” a Filipino saying goes, “isang salop ang nawala.”

-oOo-

Congresswoman and former Health Secretary Rep. Janette Loreto-Garin (1st Dist., Iloilo) has released a statement on how to move forward in the fight against COVID-19. I am reproducing it in full:

“MECQ was re-imposed in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite and Laguna. Ano ibig sabihin nito? Kaakibat ng mga hakbang sa pagsugpo ng COVID, marami na namang hindi makakapagtrabaho, mawawalan ng kita at may mga maliliit na negosyong maaring magsara. Sa pagbabalik sa MECQ, at pag pasok ng tag ulan, sa liit ng kita, mahal na mga bilihin, hirap ng buhay —non-COVID illnesses and even deaths will be on the rise.

“The imposition of MECQ may prevent the possible collapse of our healthcare system and give a little breathing space for our frontline health workers. However, community quarantine is not the sole solution for COVID-19. It needs to be parallel with continuous efforts to curb the virus and its transmission. As I have always suggested, we need a whole-of-nation approach.

“We have a long-lasting pandemic without a vaccine or a cure yet. What we need to do now is to co-exist with this virus. In winning the fight against COVID-19, we must learn how to live with the virus.

“We need to attack COVID, not just wait for it to show via the symptoms manifested by patients. We need to keep on testing and immediately isolate the positives while allowing the negatives to help our economy recover.

“The Private Sector thru Project ARK PCR Initiative has successfully reduced the cost of PCR/ Swab Testing to Php 1800-Php2000.But we need further reduction because affordability is key to attacking the virus. While the private sector never wanes in wanting to help, aligning with the National Government and the LGUs are paramount.

“Isolation centers go hand in hand with massive testing. This should be complemented with a social amelioration fund of Php5,000 to PhP10,000 per asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID patient so they can feed their families while in isolation. Mental and emotional support for those in isolation can be provided by DOH.

“I know that many would want to be tested via RT-PCR pero hindi magawa dahil mahal. Kaya naman isinusulong natin itong pooled testing na sinimulan na naming gawin through Project ARK RT-PCR Initiative. Our pathologists who are spearheading this, will serve as our warriors in targeting this invisible enemy.

“Mula sa kasalukuyang presyo na PhP4,500 to PhP8,000 bawat tao sa isang test, mapapababa natin ang presyo nito hanggang PhP350 kada tao sa pooled testing.

“Sa pananaw ng iba, the country seems to be losing this battle, but it does not have to stay that way. May magagawa pa tayo. Kaya pa nating mapagtagumpayan ito kung magtutulungan lang ang lahat at may direksyon ang ating mga galaw.

“When health meets economy, when massive testing is done in unison with social distancing, hygiene practices and other new normal behaviors, when the public and private sectors cooperate, when the national and local government units work hand-in-hand, we can co-exist with COVID and win while we await a vaccine.”

-oOo-

We heard from our friend Victor Nomat that Congressman Gerardo “Gerry Boy” J. Espina Jr. of Biliran, who turned 50 on August 7, is being urged to run for senator in 2022 under presumptive presidential candidate Manila Mayor Isko Moreno

I have not personally met Espina, but his personal attachment to his people is legendary. For example, he is “visible” even in far-flung barangays because of the dental and medical missions on wheels. The province has a mobile clinic.

His on-going project in Naval town is a two-storey isolation center for health workers and other frontliners who are infected with the COVID-19.