EVEN if the enhanced community quarantine is lifted, should it be lifted by law or as a joke, I’m going to continue behaving as if ECQ were still being enforced, with a policeman at my door and my guardian angel at my gate.
Why there should even be a debate over its lifting or extension (beyond April 14) boggles the mind. Unmask the false prophets! Listen instead to Rep. Joey Salceda, who has the figures and facts at his fingertips: “We’ve been dancing around the virus for the last month, now is the time to hit it with a hammer” (as in knocking it out). For, to dismantle ECQ like a toy we’ve suddenly tired of would mean losing all the gains we have made from changing our way of life for the last 25 days, for something like 60 million people in Luzon.
Lift ECQ now that more of us are learning, appreciating the impact of its life-saving significance? As noted by the fabled spinner of money and profits, Ramon S. Ang, “lives matter more than money.” Money we can lose and create again, but not a human life. It would be desecrating the memory of the warriors we sent out to battle were we to fold away the most potent weapon in our limited arsenal. Or do we want a situation like what is happening in Ecuador, where 30 corpses are picked up off the streets every day? Shouldn’t we instead acknowledge how Italy’s example gives hope, after their lockdown has saved 30,000 lives?
What we need is to come out of a state of denial – are you listening, orators aiming for your 15 seconds of fame, spoiled brats who think your wealth is your shield? Machos and hoodlums should be unmasked and meekly admit their big egos are no match for an invisible killer. The fact is that with enough people courting danger with a false sense of security – their numbers don’t have to be high, infection being an exponential reality – we’re in danger of what an ANC TV anchor calls a relapse.
By Congressman Salceda’s timetable, the sooner ECQ is extended, “the better for planning.”
From Queen Elizabeth: A dose of discipline and some good-humored resolve will be good for all.
