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Friday, March 29, 2024

The last thing we need

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"These cops mocked the ECQ."

 

 

After agonizing two months, we are seeing a glimmer of hope of surviving the pandemic.

We have ourselves, as well as the Duterte leadership, to congratulate for our painstaking gains in containing the spread of COVID-19 by adhering to the rules of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), particularly in Metro Manila.

With the modified ECQ, we still have to strictly observe the health preventive measures as the threat of COVID-19 remains with no vaccine being discovered yet.

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Most of us understand that by following the rules set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), we won’t let what we’ve achieved so far all go to waste.   

It’s just unfortunate that some of those who in charge of enforcing the ECQ rules are the ones who are violating them.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief P/Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas held his 55th birthday party with his men in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, and reportedly shamelessly violated the rules on ECQ.

Did Sinas and his men anticipate the easing of the ECQ and went “EZQ” with their BBQ party, or did they just choose to ignore the ECQ rules set forth by the RA 11469, the Bayanihan Heal as One Law?

Did these police officers, who are in the frontline of implementating of the law, think they themselves are exempt from following the law thus such display of impunity?

Look, people have been beaten up for demanding food. An ex-Army corporal was shot dead like a dog for loitering. Some others were jailed for feeding those dying from hunger on the streets. 

And here we have policemen partying because they probably think Manong Digong is so fond of them he would tolerate their abuses while the rest of the Filipinos are locked down.

I agree with Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año that Sinas himself should have known better and directed his men to take their food and disassemble in observance of social and physical distancing.

Instead, the mañanita went on – it allegedly included liquor. Note that work and social activities inside government offices and facilities have been officially prohibited by the IATF throughout the ECQ period.

We’re hoping that the investigation ordered by Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Archie Gamboa would make a truthful report on this serious matter that must have disappointed the President since the issue of “Ninja cops.”

After two months of lockdown and gaining ground in our fight against COVID-19, the last thing we need is policemen mocking the law.

**

Well, the ignominious fiasco in the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) did not make things any easier. Understandably, though, carefully distributing P100 billion cash aid to 18 million families could be a more daunting task than dropping bombs on terrorists’ lair.

The growing hunger epidemic cannot be blamed alone on the inefficiency of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) but also on the widespread corruption among the local government unit (LGUs), particularly at the barangay level.

At least with the modified ECQ in Metro Manila, rules have been eased such that close to one million can go back to work in essential industries. This will start stirring the economy.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

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