I just watched an early morning mass online at Sambuhay presided by a friend Fr. Pao. His homily was so inspiring and meaningful. It also made me realize certain things that in “normal circumstance” we take for granted.
A bottle of alcohol is just what we need at a time but then there are unscrupulous individuals who raided supermarkets and hoarded on several bottles. This is just like what you see in other countries where tissue paper is always out of stock. I just bought four bottles. Now customers are limited to two bottles each per purchase. Of course, it is human nature to at least have a few more groceries in times of crisis like this. As they say in Tagalog, “bawal magutom”. And while those who can afford to stockpile on groceries have their several carts full of goods, you can see along the roadside a few poor families sharing a meager meal out of sardines and rice. They can’t even afford to have a proper home to return to. Sad, isn’t it?
One of our public hospitals here is asking for donations of PPE – face masks, bottles of alcohol, disinfectants, disposable gloves that the nurses and doctors can use. The private sector is responding to our Vice-President Leni’s call to help. You can donate and they will buy medical supplies for our medical personnel that they can use in their daily battle with the virus. They are also in need of food rationing for our medical personnel. I wonder what this government is doing. Their response is a resounding community quarantine but there is no mention if this month-long quarantine is supported by economic plans, mandatory testing for those who leave the city and international travel bans. It should have been done months ago but they were too proud to say that we can contain this pandemic. To think we don’t even have enough testing kits that the Dept. of Health can use and distribute to hospitals. It’s a good thing though that our local governments are doing their best in their respective areas to help their constituents. This may not be just a one month catastrophe. It may take more than a year before they could find a cure.
I could not concentrate finishing a book at the moment. I’d rather contact my friends thru FB messenger to exchange news. A few days ago, a friend from Italy called me up in the middle of the night telling me their ordeal about the total lockdown. I asked Nissa if Nate still has to go to school after this month-long quarantine. She said that the school year is done. Lugi ang estudyante. They were supposed to still have their finals this week. Jovy and Josef showed me their Certificate of Employment issued by JP Morgan earlier. Nissa said she also got hers last week. They need at least three identifications that their being outside is valid – one government ID, their company IDs and the COE. Yes, it has come to this.
Dreams And Escapes 