Twenty-one days of quarantine

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

The word “quarantine” is derived from the practice of detaining in port a vessel for 40 days on suspicion of carrying an infectious disease. In our present system, the Enhanced Community Quarantine, people are detained in their homes to prevent them from being infected with a disease whose lifetime is said to be 14 days.

Gripped with fear and helpless in the face on an unseen and unknown virus without a vaccine to cure the infected, the government did what was in its power to do – just stop the virus from spreading, treat the infected if it can and allow those who can’t, to die. The daily count sends chills through the country.

The forced confinement has challenged the imagination of people. It is boring, one said, to just watch television, commune with others in the same predicament until one runs out of things to talk about or spend time with the Facebook.

We are glad that there is an explosion of quotations from the Bible, call for prayers, sharing of great quotes but some with nothing better to do or consideration that others who have less or nothing to eat send out pictures of delicious food on their table.

The national government is planning to extend the quarantine for another 15 to 20 days in Luzon. How about rest of the country where the virus no longer exists? Why should they suffer the fate of Luzon?

There are proposals to gradually lift the quarantine and allow some parts of the country where there is no or already contained infection to slowly return to certain normal life. The local governments should be allowed to determine this gradual lifting of the confinement. Some LGUs like the idea of a quarantine and the distribution of rations and cash assistance because they use public funds in their early election campaign.

In Bacolod for instance, complaints have erupted that the quantity of rice given out in the barangays are uneven. Some receive the reported government dole out at seven kilos, but some received only one kilo. The disparity is too obvious it cannot be explained as just human error. It appears some people are benefiting at the expense of the suffering of others. The city government is reported to conduct an inquiry.

The 21 days of restrictions have not yet shown is full impact, but the signs are already there. In Manila the rally of about two dozen people demanding food aid was curtailed by the police as quickly as it happened. If this confinement that prevents people from even demanding for food continues, how long will the people’s patience last?

Some LGUs are buying the produce of farmers and distributing them to the barangays. How long will this form of assisting the farmers continue?

Bacolod was reported in national television to have started rolling grocery stores. Whose stores are these? Are they financed by city funds? What is the mechanism for accountability? I recall a time when the Philippine Sugar Commission started selling sugar in the same manner and created a scandal of corruption.

In the event the national government decides to prolong the ECQ nation-wide, will the local governments have the resources to continue with the food rations? Prisoners get a food ration of at least P100 a day, a tight menu for a prisoner but a starvation diet for a family of four. How much would Bacolod spend a day for 100,000 of its 700,000 residents in the event this quarantine is extended by another 15 days? Or just 50,000? The thought is unnerving.

Of course, not all will have to be rationed. But who decides? The DSWD? We must consider that during the normal days, the DSWD list does not include those who have work even on a small salary. Now not only are the lowly employees financially strained but even those who had daily incomes like the trisikad and tricycle drivers and casuals in various enterprises.

The government must consider this scenario. Many places in this country do not have a single case of infection and yet they suffer. In fact, these towns are the least prepared for emergency assistance. Some people had work in the cane fields during the March ECQ but now work in the fields have stopped and threw hundreds more out of work.

Selective lifting can prevent a greater tragedy.