Tag: pandemic

public health

“These are signs of government’s pandemic machinery in trouble and a nation in danger.”

March 23, 2021 by
&

by Senator Ralph Recto

(Public Statement)

Hindi lang change oil, change engine and driver na rin

COVID is fast and furious while the vaccine rollout is slow and sputtering. These are signs of a government’s pandemic machinery in trouble and a nation in danger.

Hindi lang change oil ang kailangan, mukhang change engine na rin.

If after a year, the current one is not bringing us to where we want to be, then it is time to build a better one.

It is time to expand the membership of IATF, to include those in private business with superb managerial skills, such as those who have been running companies with a million moving parts with efficiency and precision.

Under EO 168 that created it, leadership of the IATF remains an all-government affair, chaired by the Secretary of Health with the Secretaries of the DFA, DILG, DOJ, DOLE, DOT and DOTC (now DOTR) as members.

The private sector also has no permanent seat on the table in the National Task Force for COVID-19, the command center that is headed by the Secretary of National Defense.

To cite one skill set, the war against COVID requires logistics experts who supply a customer base numbering in the tens of millions, like that bakery in Laguna that every day brings millions of pieces of perishable bread to store shelves from Aparri to Zamboanga in a matter of hours.

Kung may reinforcement man sa IATF, huwag lang po sana MDs—mga Military Dati—kasi quota na po ang sector na ito.

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governance

2020 Ended at the Greenhills Hostage Crisis

January 26, 2021 by
2

I am writing this on the 1st of January, 2021, to be sure that the chaotic and fickle-minded 2020 had no more punches to throw. I have conjectured that while we had to trudge through 365 days last year, it had already ended on the 2nd of March, Monday, at Greenhills Shopping Center, when Archie Paray, 40, held his former employer’s office hostage. Afterwards, the gears that had been set in motion could no longer be stopped. That was our last train out of the pandemic, Duterte, his unsure men, and the lockdowns. We missed it.

This does not mean, in any way, that I am charging any more crimes to Paray and his employers than they are already accused of. Besides, the pattern for 2020 had already been set as early as January: when Taal Volcano spewed towers and towers of ash and COVID-19 entered our shores and the President couldn’t be found, when Bato’s US visa was cancelled and Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. made an ass of himself in front of protesters at the DFA, when the US under Trump almost declared war against Iran, when Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash.

But March 2 was a point of no return. By March 6, Friday, there was superspreader event, also in Greenhills, traced to a person making use of the prayer room on top of the parking lot of Unimart. Now with nine months of pandemic experience under our belts, we can imagine the butterfly effect that the event set into motion, and understand 2020 better.

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public health

The last line of defense is crumbling: A desperate plea from your Filipino Medical Frontliners

August 7, 2020 by
T

by Dr. Edmund Villaroman

Our passion to help is the only thing that gets us to wake up early each and every day and leave behind our families. Some struggle to get to work with the limited transportation, or others even pedal their bicycles for miles just to get to the hospital. We don our PPEs, endure the discomfort for hours, oftentimes missing meals, and with limited restroom breaks, just to give the best care to our COVID-19 patients. This same passion drives us to continue serving despite being overwhelmed by the sheer number of COVID-19 cases.

A lot of us have been infected in the line of duty and some have fallen severely ill and sacrificed their lives in the name of professional service and dedication to our patients. We comfort our patients because their families are not allowed inside the COVID-19 wards. We are the closest to being family at their bedside. Patients die in front of us everyday and we shed tears for each one of them.

Most of us go home fearing we are infected ourselves, and worse that our own family might contract the virus from us. Many sacrifice not seeing their families for a long time and opt to stay in the discomfort of temporary shelters to prevent community transmission.

We lack the proper PPEs to protect ourselves. We lack the proper medicines to treat our patients. We lack proper testing and tracing of our COVID-19 patients and their relatives. We lack the proper critical care beds to admit our distressed patients. We lack the mechanical ventilators for our patients who can barely breathe.

What we lack most is a leader who knows how to navigate nation in these desperate times. We need someone who understands and accepts the gravity of the pandemic and lays down a road map from a healthcare and economic perspective. People are suffering and dying everyday. Waiting for a vaccine isn’t a plan but a hope and a prayer. We need a concrete, comprehensive and compassionate plan to include the different stakeholders of our society.

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public health

Food, armor, information in the fight VS #Covid19

April 3, 2020 by
F

by Orlando E de Leon

Where I left off, I averred two things: 1) that I don’t consider our health workers as frontliners, and 2) that we mis-allocated some tasks. On top of these, I identified the family and the home as the real frontliners.

As a Marine General, I have always considered our medical personnel as part of our REAR ELEMENTS. In the thick of battle, we bring our casualties to a collection point for first aid, and are further transferred back in line for better medical attention. I never dreamed that my medical personnel, my rear, will fight for me. The implication being, that I have been overrun. My lines have been overrun by the enemy. I have failed. Time to commit hara-kiri.

Having said that, why are we in this very situation right now? Why is our rear fighting in front? Have we been overrun? I don’t think so, not at this point in time. My assessment is that we near-panicked that we failed to determine which and where our front and rear are. We scrambled to get a grip of the situation while innovating on the best course of action to take. To me this is very normal. So normal, in fact, that 80% of commanders would have similar reactions. I would have been in the same frame of mind considering that the enemy we have been confronted with is both INVISIBLE and INVINCIBLE. But we need to recover from near-shock and reassess, then reconsolidate, our position. This is where we are now.

As promised, I will answer two questions: 1) what type of war are we fighting? 2) how are we going to fight it?

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public health

The real frontliners in this fight VS #Covid19

April 1, 2020 by
T

by Orlando E. de Leon

Please consider this as a product of a quarantined mind, hence an idle one. It does not intend to hurt sensibilities, but rather to provoke some thoughts, not a fight. Hehehe.

One of the principles of war is “simplicity.” A war plan, or an action plan for that matter, should be kept as simple as possible, so that a private can understand it. Keep in mind that only a handful of generals and officers make the plan. A multitude of soldiers, who has no idea what these generals and officers are thinking, will execute the plan. Picture that out.

I have an aversion to plans that are more of a display of English proficiency and political correctness than straightforward language.

War is chaos. A plan intends to manage this chaos. This is why most plans focus on the essential tasks each and every one will perform. Likewise, each and every individual should know and understand the importance of each task in the whole scheme.

Why am I saying all of these? Well, because I see a weakness in our defense plan. Why defense plan? Because we have not invented the weapon to fight the enemy, yet. Hence, we cannot go on the offensive.

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