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)

‘Tears of joy’ for Iloilo nurse

“Where human lives are concerned, time is always short, yet the world has witnessed the vast resources that governments can draw upon to rescue financial institutions deemed 'too big to fail.'”

—Pope Benedict XVI

By Alex P. Vidal

MARJORIE Carnaje described as “tears of joy” her emotional reaction to the announcement Wednesday morning (March 18) made by Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa that the federal government would deploy up to $82 billion in direct spending and deferred taxes to help every Canadian get through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Nagtulo gid ang luha ko (I really shed tears). It’s tears of joy. Prime Minister Trudeau is really supportive of all the Canadians,” hissed Carnaje, 52, a registered nurse in Toronto.

Health authorities estimate the novel coronavirus could overwhelm Canada's hospitals if it spreads freely. 

Most people suffer relatively manageable symptoms, such as fevers and coughs, but a small percentage of people who get COVID-19 need intensive care, sometimes for weeks. 

More than 200,000 people around the world have tested positive for the virus and 8,300 are known to have died from it as of this writing.

Carnaje said there are now 611 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada, including nine deaths.

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Carnaje, a mother of two, just arrived in Toronto after a month of vacation in Cabatuan, Iloilo, or just in time when Canada banned all non-citizens and permanent residents from entering the Canadian territory because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

She became a Canadian citizen in 2018 after working as a nurse in a private hospital in Brampton, Canada’s ninth largest city in Ontario, for 10 years.

Carnaje, who worked in Singapore and Saudi Arabia before coming to Canada, spent the morning in her flat watching Trudeau who delivered the “good” news in a conference with reporters from the capital city of Ottawa.

“In these extraordinary times our government is taking extraordinary measures," Trudeau said. "Public health should never hinge on financial considerations.”

The package is reportedly aimed at ensuring people can do what they need to do to protect their health and that of others without fear of not being able to feed their families or pay their rent or mortgages, the prime minister said.

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Carnaje said the unprecedented financial-aid package will help health workers like her and all Canadian citizens as they grapple and make adjustments financially while the world faces economic uncertainty owing to the coronavirus attack. 

It will also reportedly beef up Canada Child Benefit payments for families and GST tax credits for low- and middle-income earners, provide a wage subsidy for small businesses to help them keep staff on the payroll during the slowdown, pause Canada Student Loan payments for six months and establish emergency benefits for people who don't qualify for employment insurance.

Under the package, there will be support for shelters that house the homeless or people fleeing gender-based violence, to ensure they can help people and manage the need for some to self-isolate. 

A separate fund to help First Nation, Inuit and Metis communities respond to COVID-19 is also part of the package.

The single biggest item that Carnaje likes most is the deferment of tax payments until August, accounting for an estimated $55 billion. 

“As we very well know, ‘tis the season for tax payment,” she sighed.

Canadian businesses and individuals who owe tax money after today will be able to put off paying it until after August. 

The government is also reportedly moving the deadline for filing taxes to June 1 but is encouraging those who receive benefits from the GST credit or the child benefit to file as soon as possible to get access the additional funds available under those programs.

The government last week announced a $1-billion fund to help Canada respond to the virus, including funds for the health-care system.

 “It’s great to be a Canadian in times of coronavirus,” Carnaje said. 

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

  

Big Apple is about to ‘sleep’

“New York is definitely ready for the word of God.”

—Billy Graham

By Alex P. Vidal

BASED on what I witnessed yesterday (March 17) when I took a quick trip to the grocery store for my food supply (good for one week), I can say that “the city that never sleeps” is finally about to start or has started “sleeping.”

Because of the rising number of New Yorkers infected with the coronavirus (more than 100 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in New York City over the course of March 17, with officials expecting an exponential rise in the coming days), our movements have been “restricted.”

Employers have suspended some works if not lessened the duty hours.

There are fewer passengers in the subway trains and many major establishments and malls are almost empty.

Restaurants, bars, and other establishments in the five boroughs—Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island—were no longer allowed to accept sit-in customers except “take out” orders.

There are currently at least 923 confirmed COVID-19 patients in the city, up from 814 reported cases earlier Tuesday.

Will the Big Apple go to bed finally? 

New Yorkers reportedly get an average of 6.8 hours of sleep per night, about the same amount as New Orleans, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and many other U.S. cities. 

Las Vegas gets the least sleep—only 6.5 hours per night, but rumors that the city never sleeps have reportedly been exaggerated.

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Despite the misconception that anything and everything is available around the clock in New York City, many people around the globe continued to be mesmerized by the Big Apple For being “awake” 24/7, and so it seems.

Comprising of five boroughs sitting where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean, New York City has Manhattan at its core, a densely populated borough that’s among the world’s major commercial, financial and cultural centers. 

Its iconic sites include skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building and sprawling Central Park. Broadway theater is staged in neon-lit Times Square.

As of March 17, New Yorkers have been briefed about the latest development in as far as the battle against the coronavirus is concerned.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature have an agreement on a bill guaranteeing job protection and pay for New Yorkers who have been quarantined as a result of novel coronavirus. 

The bill also includes the permanent comprehensive paid sick leave policy.

The governor signed an executive order directing all schools in New York to close by Wednesday (March 18) for two weeks ending April 1.

Casinos, gyms, theaters are closed until further notice.

Bars and restaurants are closed, but takeout can be ordered during the period of closure.

Strongly advise only services and businesses that are essential stay open after 8:00PM: groceries, gas stations, pharmacies, and medical facilities.

All local governments must reduce their workforce by at least 50 percent. Non-essential state workers are working from home.

New York State has waived all park fees in state, local and county parks.

Testing is free for all eligible New Yorkers as ordered by a health care provider.

Local health department is the community contact for COVID-19 concerns. 

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The news that shocked everyone on March 17 was that more than 100 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in New York City over the course of Tuesday, with officials expecting an exponential rise in the coming days.

Mayor Bill De Blasio boomed March 17 night: “It’s unbelievable how rapidly this crisis is growing right now.”

Residents have been exhorted to prepare for an unprecedented “shelter-in-place” order to contain the coronavirus. 

It is expected that there will be as many as 10,000 cases of the disease in the Big Apple by next week.

The mayor added: “I didn’t even know by the time I got to your show there would be 100 more people, but what I said earlier today is this is moving very fast. We should all be very concerned about how we find a way to slow the trajectory of this virus.”

The idea of shelter in place has to be considered now and it has to be with between the city and state working together, stressed the mayor.

De Blasio and Cuomo actually sparred over whether such plans were in the works, with the governor dismissing the idea during a TV appearance.

“If New York City says, ‘Well you can’t come out of your house, all that will do is cause you to stay with your cousin in Westchester,” Cuomo said, adding that he’s working on coordinating restrictions with Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut.

“There’s not going to be any quarantine,” he explained.

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

Alex P. Vidal Quotes (Honor, Conscience)

Any person of honor chooses rather to lose his honor than to lose his conscience.
 -- MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE : 

Since honor is ego-based, losing it is not the end-all and be-all of our existence. Freedom of conscience, on the other hand, allows us to exercise our free will to choose between right and wrong. Losing our conscience is tantamount to being categorized with animals.
-- ALEX P. VIDAL

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)

‘Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud’

“War does not determine who is right–only who is left.”

 —BERTRAND RUSSELL

By Alex P. Vidal

WHILE the world is agog over the coronavirus or COVID-19 and the media is full of sad and depressing stories about the mayhem caused by the pandemic, let me share an impressive poem written by Wilfred Owen, the greatest writer of war poetry in the English language.

The poem is mentioned in the Aspects of Western Civilization (Volume II) Problems and Sources of History (fourth edition) Chapter 6 on The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Era, compiled by Perry M. Rogers. 

Owen wrote out of his intense personal experience as a soldier and wrote with unrivaled power of the physical, moral and psychological trauma of the First World War. 

All of his great war poems on which his reputation rests were written in a mere 15 months.

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From the age of 19, Owen wanted to become a poet and immersed himself in poetry, being especially impressed by Keats and Shelley. 

He was working in France, close to the Pyrenees, as a private tutor when the First World War broke out. 

At this time he was remote from the war and felt completely disconnected from it too.

Even when he visited the local hospital with a doctor friend and examined, at close quarters, the nature of the wounds of soldiers who were arriving from the Western Front, the war still appeared to him as someone else’s story, according to The War Poetry website. 

Eventually he began to feel guilty of his inactivity as he read copies of The Daily Mail which his mother sent him from England. 

He returned to England, and volunteered to fight on October 21, 1915.

He trained in England for over a year and enjoyed the impression he made on people as he walked about in public wearing his soldier’s uniform.

Owen was sent to France on the last day of 1916, and within days was enduring the horrors of the front line. 

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Here’s Owen’s famous poem:

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est

Pro patria mori.

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Does sound go on forever? No sound lasts forever as a sound. The waves that carry the sound become weaker and weaker, and finally our human ears can hear them no longer. Nor is there any scientific instrument, no matter how delicate, that can record sounds after a certain length of time as passed.

THE 24-CARAT GOLD. Pure gold is known, in the jewelry trade, as 24-carat gold. This is too soft a metal for ordinary wear and tear, so a harder metal, generally copper, is alloyed with gold. If the alloy has 18 parts of gold and 6 parts of another metal, we call it 18-carat gold; if it has 14 parts of gold and 10 of another metal, we call it 14-carat gold, and so on.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. We hear better on water than on sand. Sound is composed of waves that pass through the air. These waves are broken up and interrupted when they strike against solid obstacles. On land, sound-waves usually can not travel very far without striking against houses, or trees, or mountains or some other objects that stand in their path.

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