"We’ve seen our fair share of entitlement, privilege and hypocrisy."
Filipinos have been treated to shameless displays of entitlement and privilege during this pandemic. These displays were made worse by the leniency and compassion extended to the individuals, while ordinary citizens are flagged and punished for lesser violations.
Remember how we were all aghast when a senator, tested positive for COVID-19, accompanied his pregnant wife to the hospital and went to a supermarket days before, exposing dozens to the virus at a time he had been feeling symptoms of the disease?
Remember, too, how the chief of Metro Manila police became a laughingstock for insisting that a birthday party thrown for him by his men—with food, drinks and merrymaking—was not a party but a mananita?
It turns out the joke was on us, because compassion and understanding were extended to these two officials despite their violations and despite the high office they occupied—and the degree of accountability supposedly demanded of them.
Now there appears to be another: The mayor of San Juan City went up to Baguio City last Friday and his six-vehicle convoy reportedly ignored a checkpoint set up on Kennon Road by the city government. The vehicles sped through a triage where visitors from outside the city were supposed to undergo a medical examination.
Mayor Francis Zamora claimed he was asleep in his vehicle when his driver sped through the checkpoint. He also said he went to Baguio to bring his wife, a Stage 3 cancer patient, who needed her rest. He immediately apologized to Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
In a statement made Monday, Magalong said he accepted the apology of Zamora, asked the public to practice discernment and restraint in prejudging him, but said investigation would proceed.
A hilarious side story was that the same police official, General Debold Sinas, who held a birthday party during the lockdown in violation of a number of health protocols, had the gall to talk about the consequences of violating quarantine restrictions. Sinas relieved five San Juan cops who were part of Zamora’s entourage from their posts.
"We, as law enforcers, are bound to respect the existing rules and regulations anywhere in the Philippines. The safety of the people remains as our top priority in this (sic) trying times," Sinas said, in a stunning display of hypocrisy.
We remain perplexed, however. Even if Zamora were indeed asleep and it was his escorts in charge of the vehicle, did he not give them instructions beforehand to abide by the city’s health protocol? What were these escorts thinking when they drove past the triage—could they have been emboldened by the thinking that since they were the mayor’s men, they could do anything?
If they knew Zamora to be a law-abiding, considerate individual, would not the rudest, most entitled of police escorts have thought twice about ignoring the rules, knowing that he would be in trouble the moment his boss found out?
And why travel with 30 people when Zamora’s wife needed her much-needed rest and private time?
Magalong said he found Zamora’s apology sincere. That is his prerogative—and we agree we should gather the facts before judging anybody’s behavior.
Still, all public officials should know that the public is keenly watching what they do with their privilege, especially when millions have suffered because of this health and economic crisis. In the end, we await the results of the investigation. We hope that this episode would not be consigned to mere memory, as we move on to the next thing to be furious about.