METROPOST DR. EFREN N. PADILLA iLEARN efren.padilla@csueastbay.edu


SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- There is a kind of public service that non-government workers can perform. It may not be the provision of basic facilities and services such as roads, bridges, public spaces, water, electricity, or health but the exercise of the barest minimum of critical thinking or empathy as responsible citizens.


hand information. Since you have the time to


Lately, it’s been quite a challenge for some. Is it because when one pretends, or tries to be too emotionally-involved with an issue or character, it blinds him/her to reason, logic, and understanding? I have a few suggestions. First, stop spinning wheels in the mud. One can’t keep


publicly slinging dirt on the character of this person or that at City Hall, unless one has a complete knowledge or a set of facts and evidence to temper one’s anger or hatred.


sit and compose your diatribe against certain people at City Hall, why not also sit for once in a City Council meeting to “stop, look, and listen” to every individual legislator? I can’t assure you some form of enlightenment but you might end up unmasking, rather than lionizing the true legislative quality of what, why, and who in the dais of the legislative chamber. Try it. Besides, I don’t wish for anyone to be lumped together with BOANG (Bunch of Overacting Nitwits & Grinches), as one artist friend alluded to. Pardon his French. Pareho mi, allergic to


the cavalier attitude towards the bare necessities of critical thinking—to be factual, fair, and balanced.


Second, unless you can’t balance your public criticism with a dose of empathy, please stop bullying public servants or store workers, especially the lowly ones on the totem pole, just because the standards of your expat expectations are not being met.


crappy and hel l ish here, please stop your moaning and groaning. Sibulan Airport is a stone’s throw away from your abode. That is, if you live in Dumaguete.


Third, if your life is so


Fifth, be mindful of the vibrant diffusion of nostalgic, as well as novel ideas injected into our physical and cultural landscape.


no one (dead or alive) has ever performed so much in such a short time than by who we have right now.


H


Kudos to the Chief Executive and the members of the City Council for their commitment to the progressive agenda. And more infra projects are coming, I believe. Of course, I sound biased.


After all, I am a supporter of the Lupad Progressive Agenda, and I do volunteer work for the City.


progressive plans, allow me to digress.


I encourage our leadership, in conjunction with our local health professionals and institutions, as well as private


A challenge to the public


Fourth, please attend, if not avail of the records, City Council sessions that you’re interested to know about, so that you don’t rely on second-


As a teaser, I once invited friends to check out this place with the best Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise Sauce in town. They were impressed. I hope hindi naman tayo mga bingi o bulag, o nagbingi-bingian o nagbulag-bulagan to accept the fact that the majority of our constituents or even out- of-towners are enjoying, rather than lamenting, the natural effusion of the overall spirit of creativity and imagination engendered by our changing and revitalizing urban space. Finally, consider this: in the history of our City government,


PONCIANO LIGUTOM BOW & ARROW pligutom@yahoo.com


remembered we were celebrating Father’s Day on June 20 as I was thinking of what to write for this column. Reflecting on my work in government, I was reminded of the many “fatherhood” hats I wore. When I was serving as a Labor Attache, our kababayans usually asked me, “Why do you provide assistance to convicted OFWs, especially the criminals?” My ready answers were the concepts of parens patriae and of diligence required of a person, which I learned in my study of political law.


I Parens patriae is Latin for


“parent of his or her country”. This is the responsibility of the state to act as guardian for


the Epiphany or “Three Kings Day” in Siquijor. Since my father died 30


years ago, the celebration became very simple. When our eldest “king”, Nong Tining, died in 2017, it just became a memory. Our middle “king”, Kuya Edyong, is now in Mindanao; and I, the youngest, am in the Visayas. Moreso, the church changed the celebration of Epiphany according to the Episcopal conference on a Sunday between Jan. 2 and Jan. 8.


When my cousin Juan Baliquig Jr. was still alive, he would always call me on Jan. 6 to reminisce the times we


its constituents who are unable to care for themselves, such as children or disabled individuals in the family. As a representative of our country, I had to be a “father of all OFWs” with no distinction, and I had to be diligent in my LabAtt’s work as a good father of the family.


that “a person who is obliged to offer anything is obliged to take care of it with due diligence of a good father of the family”. This refers to the kind of care a father would exercise in taking care of his family. My own father, ever the good provider, would throw a feast on his birthday, Jan. 6th. Well, it wasn’t just because it was Papa Dodoy’s birthday. I had two brothers and we were dubbed as the family’s “Three Kings”. So it was also a feast for


The Civil Code provides


were in our house in Siquijor to celebrate our Papa’s birthday, and give honor to the “3 Kings”. Our father was called by all my relatives, including the younger generation in our barangay as “Papa Dodoy” or “Dodyan” as a show of respect. The millennials would call him “Papa Doods”. He was an undefeated teniente del barangay, reigning longer than Marcos did, but he was “defeated” by our mother who requested him to quit politics. He was an epitome of excellent and ethical leadership. He only reached third grade but spoke very good English. He prepared contracts among community members who had special agreements like a contact of sale for land. He was a spokesperson (kagun) of the traditional “pamanhikan” which requires wit and facility of the “rhymes and riddles” of learned spokespersons. The


fate of marriage was believed to depend largely on the intellect and strategic negotiation of the “kagun.” He never experienced a single failure nor denial in any “pamanhikan.” While it would take days or weeks of negotiation, he succeeded mostly on the first attempt. He was referred by “Kapitan


some people as


Hul igong”(bumbl ebee ) because he was very talkative. He was the life of any party. During weddings, birthdays, wakes (tukaw), death anniversaries (hubkas), he would always be surrounded by the attendee folks because of his stories, jokes and analysis


Parens patriae: Father as parent of community events.


The family likened my father to an ant (sulom) because on his way, he would always stop and talk to the persons he met, like the “kissing ants”. Sometimes, I would cry when I went with him to town on Sundays because it would take so long to be back home because of his friendly nature. What I usually said was “Pa, gabii na! We still have to tend the cows and “masuko na si Mama”. This was the only reason he would end his conversation with the people we met along the way. Our barkadas also called him “Haring Surikbot” because of his stories about the life a king named Surikbot. These stories were “kathang isip” of a local sage, our father. His influence in our lives continues to this day. The “3 kings” are all known as “mga anak ni Dodoy” and not “Ilang


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philanthropic sectors, to collectively pool resources to implement a city-wide antigen test initiative. Kong naay more funds, the gold standard PCR test unta. In the absence of vaccine availability, we need to know the emerging picture of incidence or rate of infection. Dili ta mahadlok sa findings of the initiative. Dili gyud ta magmahay ani. After all, knowledge is power.


challenges to face and so many things to do.


can do better, can we spare the public with less negative attitude by channeling more positive behavior into public service? If volunteering is not your cup of tea, the 2022 election is coming up. In the spirit of my FavFlix Forrest Gump, I say, “Run, Forrest, Run!”


Unless one thinks he/she Indeed, we have so many For other possible JG UMBAC THE WAY IT IS bjplug@gmail.com


ow much time should have been needed for officials here in Dumaguete to gather information about COVID-19 to help them manage it, especially so that they actually did not have to come up with the techniques themselves to do it from scratch? From the day COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, there’s been guidance from the World Health Organization that trickled down to the health agencies of all countries, including ours. It didn’t take long before studies were conducted, published, and shared by the world’s foremost virologists.


The behavior of the virus has never been left for the local government units to research—that information has been made available by those same virologists.


still happens amid a global pandemic.


When the pandemic started over a year ago, testing capabilities were wanting. They couldn’t do enough tests, so instead, they let fear rule, in the hopes that it would be enough for people to stay indoors because outside, the virus was just “waiting to get them.” With less testing, the actual spread of the virus could not be mapped out with any amount of certainty, yet our local experts tried their best to sound coldly on target, some even walking us through made-up scenarios. They themselves even tried


So on the ground here, as in everywhere else in the country, the only thing left for local officials to do was to give teeth to the national and local health protocols they themselves created. That’s one area where the men of science, the experts cannot help the local officials. Our officials are all alone there, and for that matter, they’ve never been very successful at it. A myriad reason exists to explain why that is, but some of the most popular ones hover around politics—the reluctance to bite violators (voters) with those teeth—even though policies and ordinances were in place that could have allowed them to do so. It should be disgusting enough to note that this


FEATURE


A City in the first day of MECQ By Ian Rosales Casocot


t is June 16, the first day of MECQ in Dumaguete City. It begins with some semblance of quiet. Journalist Raffy Cabristante, on the lookout for what he can share on the popular Facebook page of his radio station Yes The Best FM, sets out for the heart of downtown.


I


He takes photos of the usually-busy intersection of San Jose and Perdices Streets, where Lee Super Plaza, Jollibee, and other big stores are located, and takes a snapshot of the 9 a.m. scene, ow-key in its bustle—there are only a few tricycles and motorcycles plying the street, and only a handful of people about.


not allowed.”


That kind of indignation is rampant everywhere in Dumaguete. It has only increased in the MECQ. But it has been a rough few


It is the same with the Rizal Boulevard stretch facing the sea. The same with Hibbard Ave. which cuts through Silliman University, and goes all the way north to the barangay of Bantayan. There’s more volume of traffic along Veterans Ave., the stretch most locals call the National Highway, but that is to be expected. This is the artery that connects Dumaguete, a component City in the province of Negros Oriental, to the other towns—it is bound to be busy, if a little less than what it usually sees on any given day, even during the past few months of the pandemic.


on the radio station’s Facebook page—and immediately, there are reactions.


the photo of the national highway scene, with the Philippine National Bank building prominent in the center: “Naa ra lagi pedicab diha. All public utility vehicles including pedicabs for hire are


Someone comments below Cabristante posts his finds


weeks for the City, which on June 7 was raised to the level of national notoriety when it was listed as the No. 1 locality in the entire country with the most worrying trend of COVID-19 surge: new cases doubled by 206 percent, followed by Koronadal with 96 percent, Cotabato City with 62 percent, Bacolod with 56 percent, and Davao City with 54 percent, according to data provided by the OCTA Research Group. By t hen, most Dumagueteños were getting too used to—and increasingly getting apprehensive by—the rising daily totals put out by Provincial IATF ground commander Dr . Li land Estacion.


May 14 was the day that apprehensions began. Dr. Estacion announced 168 new cases, at that time the highest number of new cases recorded in Negros Oriental since the pandemic began. She attributed the surge to “local transmissions within households, workplaces, and public places where people converged.”


By May 18, there were 98 new cases, raising the active cases to 615—the same day the Silliman University Medical Center stopped accepting COVID patients, declaring their capacity full.


rollout for senior citizens finally began—the same day the local IATF countered fake news rapidly circulating that Robinsons Place Dumaguete was a hotbed for the virus. By May 21, 204 new cases,


By May 20, the vaccination


709 total. By May 23, the doctors started calling out for help. In a statement produced by the Negros Oriental Medical Society, they declared: “We call for an ECQ. We call for a lockdown. Call it whatever you like. We are doctors, we are not politicians or businessmen or even lawmakers. But these we know: there is this rapid rise in cases more than the hospitals can handle. We know that we are losing precious lives. We know that we have so many critically-ill, and not enough sources. We only know the value of saving a life. Please, people of Negros Oriental, do something. Stop parties. Stop gatherings. Don’t socialize. Wear masks. Give us curfews. Give us time to reset. Please do something before health care collapses. The end of health care will be the end of society. Help us, health workers.”


It was a plea gunning for what had been the precarious status quo in Dumaguete. There was a sense of a City relaxing a bit too much in its


regard for pandemic dangers: people were going about unmasked, people were going about having parties and weddings and dinners, people were going about thinking they had become untouchable after more than a year of suffering in lockdown. Many would call it “pandemic fatigue”—and the penchant to wring back a sense of pre-pandemic “normal” was high. By May 24, Dumaguete received a wake-up call: City Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo was stricken with COVID, and was now in isolation. Later reports would indicate that he was going through a “cytokine storm,” an immune response exhibited by many COVID


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to instill another kind of fear in the people. They talked about the stigma associated with being found positive of COVID-19, and how those found positive would be treated in the community even after they’ve recovered and shed the virus.


dividing the populace into groups, and determining which groups could go get essentials, and on which days. Even that got bungled at first. The people complained about the apparent lack of direction of the government itself. In those early days, the


failures may have been excusable, considering that no one had ever experienced a pandemic before. The government didn’t know what to do because they, too, did not have pandemic experience. The responses of the


government changed often, guided by information available when it was. After some time though, things


When push comes to shove


settled a bit, and people started to worry about how they could survive with the economy shut down, their jobs put on hold. The prospect of starving


I think that campaign did work for a while, prompting people to stay in their homes, unless they didn’t mind catching the virus and being treated like lepers, before the disease was effectively eradicated worldwide. No one wondered whether the people could, and for how long, survive without working. Those who never had to worry about money could have been told that they had to remain holed up in their homes indefinitely, and it wouldn’t have bothered them at all. We went through MGCQ


became more terrifying than the possibility of catching COVID-19. I believe the government


could have wrestled the bull by the horns, so to say, as early as maybe March of 2020. Government had their protocols at the time, and they knew pretty much how to enforce them. But it seems that as much as the local government wanted to diligently implement the protocols, the enforcers themselves were not up to the task. With no one to check on the enforcers, the result was failure.


and ECQ, with the government issuing “quarantine passes”,


As I have said before, laws, ordinances, policies, or guidelines, for that matter, are utterly useless if they are not


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JUNE 20 - JUNE 26, 2021 OPINION 7


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