METROPOST


MAY 2 - MAY 8, 2021 JG UMBAC THE WAY IT IS bjplug@gmail.com H


ere’s the scenario: You’re at the airport, and queuing up to go through security (with sniffer dogs), and you suddenly realize you have contraband in your pocket. There wouldn’t be a better time to s**t your pants. If you threw it on the floor with all those people around you, you’d be risking being seen by a fellow passenger, or a roving TSA officer. It would be just as bad as being caught right at the security gate. You think about turning


in now with the pandemic, everyone is scared.


Add to that the ordinances that some local government units have passed to control the spread of the dreaded virus, especially those that carry penalties, the peoples’ fears have just been compounded. Here in Dumaguete, if a person is caught without a face mask, he could be apprehended, detained, and fined ₱3,000.00, no ifs or buts about it (according to what I heard).


around, but that could make the officer suspicious, and he might just ask you to step out of the line, and escort you to their office for a body cavity


search. That should be enough to make you faint. So, you keep thinking


about how you could get rid of your contraband without getting arrested, even though you know there is no other way. You start to get sick and nauseated, feeling that if you just threw up, you’d feel better. Then your mind starts telling you that it’d be better to give up than be caught. You start stepping out of the line to fess up to TSA officer when out of the corner of your eye, you see a blue box on the side—it’s an AMNESTY BOX! In an instant, you feel blood rushing back to your body like you didn’t have any for the past five minutes. The feeling of relief felt worse than the fear but at least, you won’t get arrested.


there seems to be no way out of a predicament. Like the predicament the world is


NAT’L. ID....FROM P. 3


income families” of more than 200,000 that have been identified and pre-registered last year, he said.


appeared for the Step 2 Registration since it rolled out last February, the PSA has started coordinating with government offices to accommodate their employees so that the activity can move forward, he added. Current records at the PSA show a partial listing of


BOW....FROM P. 5


condo owners struggle with paying monthly dues and you belong to a community of 500 condos, you may not feel the impact. However, if you live in a community of 10 condos and two people fall behind, there goes a big chunk of the owners’ association budget.


For an ordinary OFW , a condo unit is really very expensive. You also have association dues for maintenance and this does not include plumbing or air-conditioning issues. There can also be assessment fee for emergency expenses not covered or beyond the budget of the association.


Condos


are slower to appreciate and harder to sell than houses. And there’s the matter of condominium community rules and


restrictions which may also not fit our lifestyle. In a community like


Dumaguete, you can choose where to build a house to be near friends. In a condo you cannot choose your neighbors. In Oman, I didn’t even know some of the Filipinos I was sharing the same building with for almost three years. That’s why I still cannot comprehend why OFWs, especially the domestic and service workers from the provinces, would dream of buying condo units from their meager incomes. They are more likely lured by their own kababayans who do part time job of selling condo units and other symbol acquisitions of a balikbayan. Many hidden expenses are not discussed and what


is highlighted is the possibility of renting it out for a passive income. Many OFWs became victims of this phenomenon.


Paying for a condo unit would take years but OFWs only have 2-year contracts. What if they are terminated or contracts are not renewed? When Oman started its “Omanization” programs of giving up expats for the local, a number of OFWs experienced problems with their debts. If you have debts, you cannot leave the country lest you will become a subject of the Interpol.


The desire to own a


condo unit and unguided entrepreneurial spirit of some workers created a lot of problems for OFWs. Quo vadis?


However, as not all have


244,707 registrants as of April 25, Fortuito said.


to register until December this year around 400,000 people from the priority listing, he said.


President Duterte in August 2018, Republic Act Philippine Identification System Act, aims to establish a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens.


Signed into law by The PSA here is targeting


The national ID will be a valid proof of identity that shall be a means of simplifying public and private transactions, enrollment in schools, and the opening of bank accounts.


It will also boost efficiency, especially in dealing with government services where people will only need to present one ID during transactions. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)


finally got excited again to be able to race in a two-sport event. The Pamplona Duathlon Race Challenge for Peace & for a Cause was held last Sunday, April 25.


A


It was contested by running 4 kilometers, biking 15 kilometers, and running again another 4 kilometers to the finish line. There were two categories: mountain bike (MTB) and road bike competitions. The first to start were the


It’s cause for concern when


The City government should be lauded for its unrelenting effort to protect us all from COVID-19 because,


after all, that’s what we pay them for—to protect us. As a law-abiding citizen, I do my part by always wearing my face mask. I don’t even think there is a penalty for not wearing one. Besides, I have better use for P3,000.00 than put it in the City’s coffers. Only taxes should go there.


anymore, what with the abundance of amnesty zones in the City. The chances of me being caught in one of them is, I believe, high. So what is there to worry about?


with officials from the City Health Office make their nocturnal rounds of the City every single day. They look for violators of the curfew (10:00 pm to 5:00 am), and those not complying with the health protocols.


Law enforcement, along FEATURE L CoViD amnesty zones


I go out with my face mask not because it’s required, but because I’m serious about protecting myself and others from the mulish virus. I just hope that with the quality of the face masks sold locally, mine won’t break its ear loops while I’m on my bike, and have to ride the rest of the way home without one.


If this should happen, would they believe my story and let me slide? A couple months ago, I would have believed they wouldn’t let me slide, and instead make me cough up the three-grand. I don’t think that way


For the life of me, I cannot understand why some still get caught gadding around during curfew hours, when the City itself is dead during that time. Those who get caught are simply hard- headed or they


may be testing the system. And I think I know why


they may feel compelled to test the system. Like me, they’ve probably seen that the City is strict about some things, and unbelievably lax in others. The disparity is most apparent in what I call the City’s COVID Amnesty Zones. There are several COVID Amnesty Zones in the City. One of the bigger ones is Quezon Park. You can pick just about any time of day, and you won’t see law enforcement nor the City Health Office patrolling there, looking for the same things they look for at night.


Worse, it seems there are certain youth groups who are exempted from the basic health protocols. One that I observed lately is a dance troupe practicing their routine, all without face masks nor physical distancing.


TO PAGE 12


Shopping with my grandson By Nora Ruiz-Ravello


to the pandemic, I finally went to the supermarket with my 21-year-old grandson, Ernst. I felt like a little girl holding on to his arm as we descended the steep staircase from the parking lot. At the entrance, I just stood beside Ernst while he filled out the forms, part of the health protocols required of everyone more than a year now.


Then we walked up and down the grocery aisles, choosing the items from our list. Ernst would ask, “Do you want this, Gwama?” “Do you want two of this?” “Which brand do you prefer?” “Big or small?” “The red or the blue?” Funny, but I remember asking Ernst those questions whenever I took him along to the grocery store when he was little. And now, he’s the one asking me such questions. An unsettling reversal of roles. I watched as Ernst picked


ast Saturday April 24, after several months of strictly staying home due


grocery items from the shelves, carefully scrutinizing the labels, the expiry date, even mindful of the price. I didn’t expect “kids” this young


OPINION 7 Déjà vu


else you need, Gwama?” I noticed he didn’t ask what I merely wanted. To speed things up, I reached for several cans of


Ernst when he was a little boy, with grandparents Nora and Buddy Ravello.


being very deliberate while shopping. After almost an hour of picking our groceries, Ernst asked me again, “Anything


corned beef and sardines. But he politely stopped me, and remarked, like telling a little girl, “No, Gwama, we’re not buying processed food,” as he led me to the fresh produce section…. I was just amused to see Ernst meticulously choosing the right cuts of beef and chicken, and bagging them himself.


The pandemic, it seems, has not been all that bad. Because it was during the pandemic when we started noticing Ernst striving to be a disciplined health buff -- very intentional in eating the right food in moderate amount, rigorously exercising everyday, and making sure he got eight hours of complete rest. He would also nag his younger brother to get into the health habit. Then while waiting for


Ernst Rana, now 21, takes his Gwama on a ride. DARIO ENDOZO


GOING THE DISTANCE


Ironmandario@gmail.com


fter a long wait since the pandemic started last year, endurance athletes


the faces of the participants; others, especially the first- timers, showed mixed feelings of thrill and nervousness. The race didn’t start until


after 8:30 am, as the organizers made sure all the ones joining were actually registered, and readying them behind the starting line. Everyone seemed to be anxious, especially those in front.


MTB racers, followed by the road bike racers with a five- minute interval. The start line was at the town plaza where the racers took mostly the main road, left open to traffic. Traffic enforcers and volunteers kept the racers safe. It wasn’t a typical Sunday morning in Pamplona. A throng of athletes started gathering in the town plaza early in the morning, as the churchgoers were coming out of the church after Mass. Some seemed oblivious to what was about to happen in their sleepy mountain town. Street parking was filling up in every space available around the plaza, as the duathletes were unloading their bikes from their vehicles. The voice of coach Niño Piñero, event announcer, could be heard in the loudspeaker, giving last-minute instructions as the runners-bikers were busy setting up their bikes on the racks or doing their warm- up routines.


The excitement was palpable and too obvious in


The countdown started, and the MTB racers took off like a bat out of hell to the narrow street lined with bikeracks that were waiting for the runners to return. After about five minutes, the road bike racers took off in the same manner, including yours truly.


the runners found themselves on a stretch of the main road that is relatively flat. It was an out-back course, going out two kilometers to the turning point. At some point in time, you could see both sides of the main road lined with runners making their way to the half- way mark or returning to complete the four-kilometer run.


After a few quick turns,


grabbing your bike off the rack. That is, if one has two different kinds of shoes to be worn specifically for running and for cycling; otherwise, one gets a quicker transition (or a lead time of maybe a few seconds). We were instructed to walk the bike out of the transition area until we reached the mounting area where we were then allowed to hop on the bike and start riding. The volunteers made sure that everyone followed such instruction.


Duathlon in Pamplona


The focus now shifted on the bike, and after leaving the town plaza, it was a steep downhill with a sweeping right at the bottom of the hill. The bike course had fantastic views over


It was a good opportunity to check who would be in your age group, or who could be ahead or behind the competition. (This was a race, afterall. How could one not feel competitive?) After the first 4K run, we could feel the heat of the mid- morning sun as we reached the transition area for the bike exchange. It’s almost a calculated and précise quick change of cycling shoes, putting on the helmet, before


to traffic, we had to be aware of other vehicles on the road, like equally speeding motorcycles. At one point, we were clearly no-match with a group of big bikers who wheezed by. There were also instances when the Ceres bus would make abrupt stops to pick up/drop off passengers, leaving the cyclists with a tight space to maneuver between the bus that had just stopped and the motorcycles and other vehicles driving the opposite direction. For my own safety in those


route (about the distance from Dumaguete to the town of San Jose) was also an out-back TO PAGE 12


With the main street open TO PAGE 8


undulating countryside, with some speedy downhill and grinding uphill.


moments, I could only rely on utmost precision, intense focus, and vigorous prayer. The 15-kilometer bike


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