Ilonggos unite vs COVID-19

“One of the primary purposes of civilization - and certainly its primary strength - is the guarantee that family life can flourish in unity, peace, and order.”

—Robert Kennedy

By Alex P. Vidal

BY being always available and visible in the public, Iloilo officials led by Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. and Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas are sending a buoyant message to the Ilonggos that “we are on top of the situation and with your help and cooperation, we can surmount this crisis.”

It’s in times of crisis and calamities that the leadership and worthiness of our leaders are scrutinized and best tested.

Novel coronavirus or COVID-19 has laid low the Ilonggo populace, just like other places all over the globe, by an enemy too small to be seen.

There seems to be a a sudden resignation and fatalism in the air even as despair unrelieved by even glimmers of hope befouls social media and traditional media alike.

All of a sudden, the scourge of the coronavirus strikes many of Ilonggos as well as people caught flat-footed around the world as something supernatural. 

For the Ilonggos, however, the show of unity is heart-warming and unparalleled. 

They know when and how to turn despair into hope by cooperating with the authorities and cajoling others to toe the line using the social media and person-to-person persuasion.

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The good thing about the fear and confusion that cascaded in the hearts of many people is that the Ilonggos are now united against the common enemy.

There have been no opposition; no bellyaching; no protest, and nobody criticized or opposed our local officials who sent out stern executive orders (EOs) limiting the movements of warm bodies in the borders.

When Treñas ordered the temporary closure of the famed Iloilo Esplanade in the Iloilo River, nobody complained and everybody cooperated. 

The city currently has 16 patients under investigation (PUIs) and 1,097 persons under monitoring (PUMs) for COVID-19.

When the people are facing a cloud of uncertainty and confusion, they need leaders who are intrepid, decisive, firm, and who can assure them everything is being handled efficiently and professionally and that the government is ready to confront the crisis using its full authority, resources, and technical capabilities and otherwise.

Health experts and members of the disaster and coordinating council, the police and the military will work alongside the chief local executives to assuage the nervous public and help the people prepare for the next episode while everyone shakes in their pants but are optimistic there will be light at the end of the tunnel because their leaders are in the forefront helping contain the conflagration.

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Instead of spending lots of money on a new desk for our office, let us invest in some salvaged wood and paying a carpenter to make us one to measure--it will have the added advantage of fitting the space exactly.

THE USE OF HAVING TWO EYES. If we look at our room with one eye only, we will find that it looks much flatter than it does with two eyes. With two eyes we can see that the chair is n front of the desk, that the wastebasket is round and that the closet looks deep. Our eyes are set from about two to two and a half inches from each other--measuring from center to center.

WHY WE HAVE EYEBROWS. Our eyebrows serve a good and useful purpose. If we had no eyebrows, the drops of sweat that form on our foreheads when we get warm would run into our eyes.

 (The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Duterte’s Iloilo-based consultant talks sense

“No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.”

—Isaac Asimov

By Alex P. Vidal

SELDOM can we hear Jane Javellana, President Duterte’s presidential consultant for Western Visayas, talk in the media, but when she does she talks with sense. 

And she delivers.

Take for instance Ms Javellana’s appeal to all chief local executives (governors and the Iloilo City mayor) in Region 6  to unify their efforts in maintaining the status of Panay Island as coronavirus-free.

As soon as she made the suggestion that there should be a "one executive order imposing community quarantine" to be issued by the mayor of Iloilo City and the governors of Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, and Capiz, both Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. and Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas were in a joint press conference in Iloilo City announcing they have signed executive orders (EOs) regulating the entry of the people to the borders of Iloilo.

This was followed also on March 15 by the governors of the provinces of Capiz, Aklan, and Antique who issued EOs limiting the movement of people in and out of their respective borders.

To complete the cast, Bacolod City and Negros Occidental followed suit.

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According to Consultant Javellana, “It would be easier for the alignment in strict implementation of quarantine procedures and guidelines for air, sea, and land transportation and passengers” if there would be one EO signed by all the local chief executives in Western Visayas. 

"This way,” she added, “the procedures will be manageable and may impact in the disease prevention of the entire island of Panay. One EO and one task force to handle all inquiries and PRs.”

Ms Javellana’s point of view was not only relevant but also necessary and should be “the right thing to do” for all the concerned local chief executives now that our main concern is primarily to protect the health and welfare of the Ilonggos.

By the way, what will happen now to the Paraw Regatta 2020 Festival, which has been rescheduled from March to April 1 now that beginning April 1 Panay Island will be under an island-wide quarantine in an effort to shield it from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)?

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CORONAVIRUS, MEDICAL SCIENCE, RELIGION. Now that the coronavirus has decimated thousands of human beings in every corner of the globe with such horrific magnitude, our religion can’t exempt us from the pandemic. 

The intended casualty is “to whom it may concern.” 

Even the atheist is infected. A priest, a head of state, a first lady, a lawmaker, a Hollywood couple, a plain son-of-a-bitch, a spiritual impostor, a bank executive, a doctor, or an innocent elderly who is only counting the lizards at home. 

It’s the province of the medical science. It’s all about our immune system. Religion is a misnomer here.

Religion has been an enormous multiplier of tribal suspicion and hatred, with members of each group talking of the other in precisely the tones of the bigot. 

The Christians eat defiled pig meat and they and Jews swill poisonous alcohol. Buddhist and Muslim Sri Lankans blamed the wine-oriented Christmas celebrations of 2004 for the immediately following tsunami. Catholics are dirty and have too many children. 

Muslims breed like rabbits and wipe their bottoms with the wrong hand. Jews have lice in their beards and seek the blood of Christians to add flavor and zest to their Passover matzos. And so it goes on.

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Let me share this “Prayer to Mary during Coronavirus Pandemic” by Pope Francis taken from the Vatican News:

O Mary, you always shine on our path as a sign of salvation and of hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick, who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm.

You, Salvation of Your People, know what we need, and we are sure you will provide so that, as in Cana of Galilee, we may return to joy and to feasting after this time of trial.

Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform to the will of the Father and to do as we are told by Jesus, who has taken upon himself our sufferings and carried our sorrows to lead us, through the cross, to the joy of the resurrection. Amen.

Under your protection, we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God. Do not disdain the entreaties of we who are in trial, but deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Defensor, Treñas in rare show of teamwork

“Unity is strength when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”

—Mattie Stepanek

By Alex P.  Vidal 

WESTERN Visayas lost another eminent pillar of journalism in the person of the maverick Sanny Rico, who succumbed to multiple stroke on March 13 in Iloilo City, according to his nephew, former PHHC 22 Mandurriao village chief Ray Rico.

Uncle Sanny was a famous anchor of the defunct DYPL of ABS-CBN in the 70s, and was already a household name way back in the 60s, according to his protégé, former Bombo Radyo Iloilo anchorman Jerome Varon.

“When the station was sequestered by the government during the Martial Law regime, he worked in the government and took the role as mentor of budding broadcasters, myself included,” recalled Varon, himself an icon in the broadcast industry in late 80’s and in the early 90’s and who has largely acknowledged Uncle Sanny’s contribution to his own success as a media personality. 

Uncle Sanny, who came from a family of leaders and public servants, was an active columnist of the Western Visayas Daily Times in the 80’s and in the 90’s. 

Incisive and witty, he loved to write about the Philippine National Police (PNP) and was the darling of the Regional Command 6 (now Police Regional Office 6).

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Because of his closeness with several past Western Visayas police directors, younger reporters would jokingly tease him as “SPO10 Sanny Rico” and he would react to the “compliment” with a smile.

When the PNP hierarchy in Western Visayas would come under severe  reproach from the media establishment, the cops would find a shimmering solace from Uncle Sanny.

Uncle Sanny wrote about politics with panache and some of his admirers were the late Iloilo City Mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon and the late Bacolod Assemblyman Wilson Gamboa, all towering political figures in the Martial Law era.

If you were an avid newspaper reader before the 1986 EDSA Revolution and the years that Tita Cory’s “Kamaganak, Inc.” burglarized the nation’s wealth with impunity, you would be familiar with Uncle Sanny and his razor-laced admonishment of the numbskulls.

His “retirement” from column-writing in the late 90’s and his death will leave a void in the cloister of local journalism where decency, professionalism, and integrity are prominently etched.

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WHEN two highest officials of the city and province of Iloilo decide to sit together in one table and talk to the people through the media, there must be something urgent and an eerily important message must  be imparted to the general public.

This became apparent when Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. and Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas issued executive orders (EO) on March 15, regulating the entry of people to the Iloilo borders.

It’s a rare show of unity and it has big impact in as far as the fight against coronavirus is concerned.

The EOs stated: “Returning residents of the province and city of Iloilo, provided that they shall have only until March 17, 2020 to enter the province.”

“Persons traveling into the province on common carriers and/or transport for the conduct of trade, delivery of social/humanitarian services, fishing/ marine activities, scientific and academic pursuit and such other essential purposes, other than the carriage of passengers, shall be dealt with pursuant to Republic Act. No. 1132 and Republic Act No. 9271, and such other applicable laws and regulations.”

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The EO added: "Persons who enter the province in violation of the above restriction shall be placed under quarantine for 14 days pursuant to the COVID-19 decision tool as of March 13, 2020."

“The essential entry of persons into the city shall be defined exclusively and shall include only health care workers, authorized government officials, those traveling for medical and humanitarian reasons, persons providing basic services and public utilities, and essential skeletal workforce.

“Appropriate administrative and/or criminal charges or both shall be filed against those person/s who shall break the protocol and violate the EO, thereby endangering the lives of inhabitants of Iloilo City,"

Under the EO, persons coming from the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, Aklan, and Guimaras and returning residents of Iloilo City "who have been tested, cleared, and declared by accredited health authorities as COVID-19 negative" will also be allowed to enter the city.

"Considering the seriousness of the developing COVID-19 public health event, there is a need to raise the level of quarantine procedures and disease prevention and control measures," said Defensor.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Gov. Toto Defensor’s ‘social justice’

“There is not Communism or Marxism, but representative democracy and social justice in a well-planned economy.”
--Fidel Castro

By Alex P. Vidal

THE presence of billionaire industrialist Enrique Razon during the oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected officials in Iloilo Province at the Iloilo capitol lobby June 28, was timely and expedient.
In the world of philanthropy where Mr. Razon belongs, the phrase “social justice” is very relevant and is heard a lot.
Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. vowed to serve the province of Iloilo based on “social justice” in a speech during the oath-taking ceremony administered by Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza.
Social justice is originally a Catholic term, first used about 1840 for a new kind of virtue (or habit) necessary for post-agrarian societies.
The term has been bent by secular "progressive" thinkers to mean uniform state distribution of society's advantages and disadvantages. It is really the capacity to organize with others to accomplish ends that benefit the whole community.
If people are to live free of state control, they must possess this new virtue of cooperation and association.
This is one of the great skills of Americans and, ultimately, the best defense against statism, according to Michael Novak, George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy.

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According to the United Nations, “Social justice may be broadly understood as the fair and compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth.”
Social justice refers to a concept in which equity or justice is achieved in every aspect of society rather than in only some aspects or for some people.
A world organized around social justice principles affords individuals and groups fair treatment as well as an impartial share or distribution of the advantages and disadvantages within a society.
Formal definitions for social justice vary in wording, but there are commonalities among them. 1. Equal rights 2. Equal opportunity and 3. Equal treatment
Although he admitted that “I can not do it alone,” the new governor appealed to all: “Please join us in implementing programs that uplift lives such as those of our farmers and fisherfolk. Please join us in improving the barangays, in sharing the wealth and resources of the province. There can be no justice without peace, so please continue to help us.”

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Social justice includes a vision of a society in which the distribution of resources is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure. Social justice involves social actors who have a sense of their own agency as well as a sense of social responsibility toward and with others and the society as a whole. (Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Adams, Bell, Griffin, 2nd ed., Routledge 2007)
The absence of social justice results in social oppression.
Racism, sexism, ageism, classism, ableism, and heterosexism are some forms of social oppression in society.
Societies and individuals form hierarchies of oppression in which certain types of oppression are addressed and others are not.
Oppression of certain groups or individuals can result in social or legal exclusion, discrimination, inequitable distribution of resources, and emotional and physical consequences.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)