"Lechon, anyone?"
"Lechon, anyone?"
The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to the emergence of a new breed of leaders who dared to take the risk of deviating from traditional government operations to ensure their constituents would receive assistance at the time they need it most.
These leaders attended to their constituents, from the lowest echelon in their respective areas, even to upper middles classes, in consideration of the fact, COVID-19 is not choosy when it comes to picking its next victim. All are affected; there is no sacred cow.
We saw erstwhile actor, now Ormoc Mayor Richard Gomez, shunning the “lista system” and proceeding with the distribution of relief goods including one sack of rice each to every household in his locality. Gapan City Mayor Emeng Pascual did the same, even upping the ante by procuring local farm produced and distributing them to his constituents.
Witty Cainta Mayor Kit Nieto has been virtually working 24/7 since the country was placed under community quarantine, the only rest is said to come when he has to answer comments on his social media account.
Failing to decipher the enigma of the social amelioration program, the criteria of which is withheld in utmost secrecy, which could even surpass the commitment to secrecy of the keepers of the secrets of the Holy Grail, Mayors Isko Moreno of Manila and Vico Sotto of Pasig both decided to come up with their own version of SAP from the funds of their own local government to benefit every family in their respective areas.
But what I find most amusing is how Alfonso Mayor Randy Salamat has addressed the needs of his constituency on a double whammy of a disaster.
Still reeling from the devastation of the Taal Volcano eruption last January, Salamat lost no time in building up support infrastructures for every Alfonseños to cope up with the pandemic.
Salamat immediately distributed anti-COVID-19 hygiene kits, each containing face masks, disposable gloves, alcohol, bar soaps, and bleach, making children, pregnant women, and senior citizens priorities, put up a misting machine, tasked the Alfonso Bureau of Fire Protection for daily disinfecting the roads and public places, instituted Libreng Sakay, as he managed a bus schedule for those who need to buy their groceries at the Luksuhin Public Market and pharmacies, ensured the distribution of five kilos of rice each of the 16,500 household in Alfonso, and mobilized the Botika and Palengke on Wheels roaming all 32 barangays of Alfoso.
But as violations of the quarantine protocols seemed to rival the number of cases COVID-19 positive, Salamat, instead of lashing out at the violators, simply put on some creativity – He put a reward of 10 lechons to the barangay with zero or the least number of enhanced community quarantine violators.
The “Best in Lechon” contest actually started last April 27 and ended Friday May 15.
While Alfonso is hardly the worst on the list of ECQ violators, the free lechon definitely looks to be a good incentive to encourage would-be violators to stay inside.
The lechon contest actually wasn’t the first COVID-related contest Salamat put up. With supply of food in the quarantine period almost limited fish and canned goods, the Alfonso mayor came up with a recipe competition, offering up 10 kilos of fish fillet to the households that could come up with the best fish fillet recipe.
And his creativity has paid off. With his success in enjoining his constituents to stay at home the whole of two months that the whole Island of Luzon and some parts of the country were in enhanced quarantine, Alfonso helped the entire province of Cavite reduce its COVID-19 cases, earning a downgrade from ECQ to General Community Quarantine starting Saturday, May 16.
Congratulations to the people of Cavite, especially to the Alfonseños. I would really want to go there not to personally congratulate the winner, but to partake of that crispy balat ng lechon I have been craving the past two months. Unfortunately we are still in ECQ, although modified, or whatever that means.
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When coffee is life.
For the past two months, I have been entertained by a lot with posts of some of my social media friends who seemed to be losing sanity for failing to have a sip of their favorite brew ever since the lockdown (or quarantine).
I could relate with then and feel the sufferings they have to endure being a coffee addict myself. Ah, the sweet aroma of a freshly brewed cup of coffee.
Eric Cham, public information office of Buhay Congressman Lito Atienza, confides he badly misses his regular dose of Nitro Cold Brew with Sweet Cream, served cold, straight from the tap, and topped with a float of house-made vanilla sweet cream, resulting to a cascade of velvety coffee, the infusion of nitrogen giving it a naturally sweet flavor, thus eliminating the need for additional sugar.
On the other hand, my youngest kid’s teacher, Teacher Loiz Ranylle Estudillo prefers Iced White Mocha Americano, no water with one shot of breve. Teacher Loiz claims her brew is strong enough as it actually a Coffee Americano, and suits people like her whoa are a bit addicted to full-bodied espresso taste, with the breve, a mixture of milk and whip cream providing the extra cream creating the heavenly sweet twist for this particular brew.
Strong enough to fight for her, she adds in a jest. She even dares me to try one.
But no, I’m a bit old-fashioned when it comes to coffee. I want mine to be extra strong with no cream. In fact, if I were to choose between a cup of Sagada Civet Coffee and a cup of Blue Mountain coffee, I would opt for the former as I prefer to savor that extra kick of bitterness.
So, as the quarantine is now on a relaxed mode, maybe we can now enjoy our favorite brew from the nearest Starbucks branch. A venti Nitro Cold Brew with Sweet Cream for Eric, a venti Iced White Mocha Americano, no water with one shot of breve for Teacher Loiz and a tall cup of smoking hot Americano for me.
Happy brewing.
