NYC ‘wakes up’ after 5 months

“I love New York. You can pop out of the Underworld in Central Park, hail a taxi, head down Fifth Avenue with a giant hellhound loping behind you, and nobody even looks at you funny.” 

―Rick Riordan

By Alex P. Vidal

WE witnessed how New York City “went to sleep” for the first time in the history in March.

With COVID-19 at its highest peak, it was bizarre and spine-chilling, to say the least. 

When the most glamorous metropolis in the world “woke up” on July 20 (Monday U.S. time) during the Phase 4 of the reopening of economy, we would be witnessing it as well.

We began the count down as scheduled on June 8 with strong optimism during the Phase 1, when everything seemed uncertain and unpredictable.

During the phases two and three, we continued to adhere to the wearing of mask and social distancing guidelines as the number of cases and deaths declined. 

After four phases, there’s no stopping the Big Apple now from rolling back to the mainstream even if dramatic spikes in the number of COVID-19 cases have been reported in some Southern and Western states.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said: "We're continuing to progress forward through the COVID-19 pandemic in the face of a continued explosion of cases throughout the United States, and that's reflected in today's hospitalizations—the lowest number since March 18—and rate of positive cases.” 

"During these confining and frustrating times, I know it's tempting to be tired of the many rules and guidelines the state has issued, but I reiterate that this pandemic is far from over, and the incredible compliance and fortitude of New Yorkers are key parts of our ability to fight COVID-19. Socially distance, wear a mask, wash your hands and stay New York Smart."

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Cuomo hailed the development as “a hallmark for us,” though he said the state is still on guard for a possible resurgence of the virus.

Upon entering New York, people from 16 states that have seen case surges must undergo a two-week quarantine.

In Bronx, meanwhile, honest monkeys, insincere giraffes, kindly elephants and more would be allowed to greet New Yorkers once again.

Along with zoos, botanical gardens would be permitted to swing open their gates and pro sports teams would play ball, minus in-person spectators.

Movie and TV crews would also be allowed to shoot on the city’s scenic streets, some four months after life in the Big Apple ground to a screeching halt due to the coronavirus outbreak.

However, indoor dining at restaurants, along with museums and malls, remains off the table amid ongoing concerns about COVID-19.

“We’ve got to strike a balance and we’ve got time to look at the evidence, watch what’s happening around the country, watch what’s happening here in the city and make further decisions on some of these pieces and we’ll do that very carefully with the state of New York,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a video shared Sunday on Twitter.

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IT’S good that the Iloilo City Government did not raise a whimper and there was no major stir when the 123 locally stranded individuals (LSIs) arrived in Iloilo City on July 20 by commercial plane and ship.

As long as the quarantine facilities can accommodate them, Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas told the local media he didn’t mind welcoming the returning Ilonggos.

In other cities and province, the return of even a single LSI has created a lot of furor and finger-pointing as if a person with a malignant disease has escaped from an asylum for communicable diseases facility.  

The mass hysteria is now being accepted as a “normal” reaction because of the scary statistics of coronavirus pandemic infection which continues to give nightmare to people from all walks of life.  

Treñas, meanwhile, continues to get applause from Ilonggos anywhere who believe that if not for his “effective” leadership and management of the pandemic, Iloilo City would have suffered the fate of Cebu, now the COVID-19 epicenter in the Philippines.

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

Defensor right not to tell Duque to quit

“There's so much interference, so much static and people's voices talking about what you do and why you do it that I've learned to be like, 'No, no.' It's actually simple. I just do this.”

—Jenny Slate

By Alex P. Vidal

IF Iloilo Governor Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. isn’t happy with both the health programs in the province of Iloilo and the way the provincial health office is handling the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, he can always call for the provincial health chief’s resignation.

Or the governor can replace the provincial health chief right away without prejudice to the latter’s security of tenure and civil service eligibility.

So far, so good. 

The provincial health office, headed by Dr. Patricia Grace S. Trabado, has been doing a good job in the fight against the pandemic, and the governor appears to be pleased and satisfied.  

But if Defensor Jr. is frustrated with the way the Department of Health (DoH) is being managed—especially if he finds the campaign to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases in the country to be inefficient and unsatisfactory—the least he can do is recommend to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that “incompetent” Secretary Francisco Duque III be sacked.

He can’t directly ask Duque III to yield his portfolio and escort him out of the DoH building. 

Even if Defensor Jr. thinks that Duque III’s supposed negligence and mismanagement of the DoH will have immediate and far reaching effects to his Ilonggo constituents, in one way or the other, he doesn’t have a jurisdiction over Duque III’s employment in the Malacanang.

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Since Duque III serves at the pleasure of President Duterte, only the president can remove him from the cabinet.

As long as Duque III enjoys the trust and confidence of the president, he can’t abandon his post only because some local chief executives don’t like him.

Thus Defensor Jr. made the right answer when asked by reporters recently if he would also call for Duque III’s resignation after Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas openly demanded for the controversial DoH boss’ resignation “for the sake of the country.”

Treñas thundered: “As a decision maker, what I can say is that the DOH has not done correct decisions since the start of this pandemic in the Philippines. That is why we are the country with the longest lockdown and yet the (COVID-19) cases continue to go up.”

The city mayor added: “I am not putting blame on anyone but there are decision makers. Secretary Francisco Duque is a friend because I have known him since the time of the late President Corazon Aquino.  But I think it is really about time to accept responsibility and voluntarily resign for the sake of the country.”

Although several senators have also earlier called for Duque III’s resignation, Treñas became the first local chief executive outside Metro Manila to seek for Duque III’s ouster.

He must have been exasperated when the DoH had earlier called for the pulling out of 39 rural health workers from Western Visayas to be assigned in Cebu, now touted as the new COVID-19 epicenter.

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Defensor Jr., on the other hand, wanted to leave Duque III’s fate to President Duterte even as he refused to reprimand the DoH chief or pass judgment on his performance, saying “he was not familiar” with the circumstance of the DoH tasks in the national office.

The governor reportedly admitted he had no basis to judge Duque III since he did not have a direct work relationship with the DoH secretary.

By refusing to interfere in a matter that only the president can decide,  Defensor Jr. wanted to send a message his time and energy were focused only to the Ilonggos in his area of responsibility, and that he has nothing to do with the wrangling and intramural in the national level whatsoever.

COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc in many municipalities even as the province and city of Iloilo are still under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) until July 15, 2020. 

Defensor Jr. probably believed it’s not worth his effort to demand for  the head of the top DoH official while the nation continues to struggle to surpass the deadly pandemic and lower down, if not totally stop, the number of infected cases and deaths.

The governor must have realized it’s not wise to fire the chief cook for committing a mea culpa in the middle of a big party where food preparations and kitchen works will last from lunch time to dinner time. 

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

   

  

   

Mayor who knows how to accept error

“Honest error is to be pitied, not ridiculed.”

—Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

By Alex P. Vidal

A good leader knows how to acknowledge a mistake and is not ashamed to admit it.

His finest moment is also defined by how he corrects his error and how he is able to reverse the fiasco without showing any morsel of arrogance to camouflage the slip-up. 

“Sometimes we make correct decisions, sometimes we make wrong decisions,” Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas admitted, referring to his recent unpopular decision April 21 to lift the ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages in Iloilo City through an executive order despite the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

Apparently acknowledging that “the buck stops here” (popularized by U.S. President Harry S. Truman), the city mayor, realizing his “mistake”, issued a new EO "reimposing the express prohibition on the sale and consumption of liquor within the city” the next day.

The EO No. 066-A stated: "Effective immediately, the sale and consumption of any form of liquor, alcoholic beverages, or any alcoholic drink containing specific percentage of alcohol by volume or weight, which may be in the form of whisky, brandy, gin, rum, cordial, liquor, cocktail, wine, champagne, vermouth, basi, tuba, saki, ale, stout, and the like shall be absolutely prohibited, unless expressly lifted. Establishments, convenience stores, groceries, sari-sari stores, and other similar businesses who shall violate the prohibition on the sale of liquor, whether directly or indirectly, shall entitle the city government to mete out the appropriate penalties provided under the Iloilo City Tax Code."

Treñas later told reporters: "Abi ko didto malang sila sa ila sulod balay mainom-inom para mapabilin nga malinong kag matawhay ang syudad, pero I got a report nga kadamo sang insidente natabo. I found it very necessary nga ibalik naton ang ban. I am tasking our punong baragays and the BPLO (Business Permits and Licensing Office) to strictly implement this.”

If he was oozing with pride or intoxicated with arrogance, Treñas would just ignore the backlash of his ill-fated decision to lift the liquor ban.

It showed that the city mayor gamely welcomed the criticism from the media and other sectors that cried foul and lambasted the lifting order.

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Mao Zedong also realized his mistake in his disastrous attempt of the

“The Great Leap Forward” in 1958 bto rapidly industrialize China.

The communist leader banned all private holdings and created communes where peasants who no longer owned their own land would live together in a field and would be forced to work steel instead of farming. 

As Mao tried to improve farming through a number of misguided techniques set forth by Trofim Lysenko, each farm would be given a steel furnace and often every peasant in the commune was forced to work long hours. 

The techniques decreased grain production but local leaders were under so much pressure that they actually falsely reported large increases in grain production in order to please their superiors. Unfortunately, these numbers were used to determine how much grain was sent to the capital to be used for export, the false numbers meant little if any grain was left to feed the peasants.

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These and other polices of the Great Leap Forward are believed to be responsible for the Chinese Famine which resulted in the deaths of millions of Chinese. And 30 to 40 percent of all houses were also destroyed as part of the Great Leap Forward as the materials were needed for their efforts to industrialize. 

Even as Mao knew his people were starving, he continued to export grain in order to save face and some even claim he knew millions would die through his program but he thought it was a worthwhile sacrifice. The economy also failed as the period of the Great Leap (1958 – 1961) was the only time between 1953 and 1973 that the economy regressed. Officials who had lied about harvests were publicly executed and Mao took a backseat to government affairs for several years.  Liu Shaoqi said in 1962 that 30 percent of the economic crisis and famine was the result of nature and 70 percent human error.

President John F. Kennedy also realized he was wrong when he pushed with the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba on April 15, 1961, where a squadron of eight B-26 bombers piloted by Cuban exiles roared down a Nicaraguan airstrip on a secret mission. 

Kennedy and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hoped the Bay of Pigs Invasion would result in the overthrow of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. 

But the operation that unfolded over the next five days became one of the greatest military fiascoes in American history.

Like Mao and Kennedy, Treñas accepted he erred like a sportsman who lost a game and won his succeeding matches.

At the end of the day, it’s the winning of the matches that the people will remember, not the lone defeat which was immediately “avenged” or redeemed.

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

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)

Santa Claus' timely visit to City Hall

"No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas."
--Al Smith

By Alex P. Vidal

SANTA Claus came to Iloilo City Hall just in time.
The check worth P134,927,522.63 personally delivered by Panay Electric Company (PECO) Public Engagement and Government Affairs office boss Marcelo Cacho to Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas and City Treasurer Jinny Hermano for its real property tax arrears on December 9 can be best described as "Merry Christmas payment."
The gargantuan amount was timely as it could help cover up so many expenses to be incurred by the city government in the Yuletide season, including the Christmas bonuses of employees, among other year-end financial obligations.
If Santa Claus did not come to the City Hall on time, Santa Claus and his family would have lost some multi-million pesos worth of properties the city government had been preparing to auction off.
It was but a right move in the right circumstance at the right time.

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As a quid pro quo, the auction had been called off and everyone was happy, to say the least.
The decision to settle PECO's "long-overdue" (it reportedly accumulated since the past two administrations) real property tax arrears certainly wasn't made overnight.
The Cacho family and Mayor Treñas, a long-time family friend and once-upon-a-time PECO's legal counsel, probably had a "heart-to-heart" talk prior to Santa Claus' dramatic show up in the City Hall on Monday.
Thus I don't see any point why City Hall will continue to sustain its animosity with the controversial power firm now that the tax arrears have been settled.
Mayor Treñas, however, has to be fair to both the MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) and the PECO, and will never interfere in the ongoing legal battle between the two firms.
If Ilonggos know how to read between the lines and the city mayor's body language, they can't make any absolute conclusion yet that the city mayor is hell-bent to abscond from its past relationship with the PECO.

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ASIDE from the cash windfall Ilonggo athletes who won gold, silver, and bronze medals in the recent 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) hosted by the Philippines will get from the national government, the city and provincial government of Iloilo should also chip in and set aside special funds for these sports heroes in time for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
We suggest that a gold medalist be given P200,000; P100,000 for a silver medalist; and P50,000 for a bronze medalist.
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will reportedly give P600,000 for a gold medalist; P400,000 for a silver medalist; and P200,000 for a bronze medalist.
The athletes have sacrificed so much to give our country honor, thus it is but proper that the national and local governments acknowledge their efforts and heroic performances by showering them with financial incentives.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)