The city of San Juan figured early this year in the national scene when the first confirmed cases of local community transmission of the 2019 coronavirus disease, or COVID-19 contagion was detected. The Department of Health (DOH) announced on March 7 that the country’s first case of COVID-19 infection was a couple with no travel history abroad but got sick from local transmission of this deadly flu-like virus.
The male victim is 70-year-old Filipino COVID-19-infected patient “known to have regularly visited a Muslim prayer hall in Barangay Greenhills, San Juan City.” Identified only as “Patient No.5.” Subsequently, his 69-year-old wife became the country’s sixth confirmed COVID-19 case.
The couple unfortunately succumbed to it, complicated by their pre-existing medical condition and became among the first cases of COVID-19 deaths in the Philippines.
The couple’s case of local transmission triggered the DOH raising the alert level of the COVID-19 outbreak to Code Red sub-level 1. And a week later, DOH Secretary Dr.Francisco Duque lll recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte to declare the country under a “state of public health emergency.” President Duterte reactivated the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging and Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) chaired by the DOH Secretary.
The increasing number of cases of COVID-19 local transmission though prompted the President to place the entire Luzon along with the national capital region under what is now called as enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for one month starting March 15. A week before the month-long ECQ lapsed, the Chief Executive extended anew the ECQ until May 15.
Less than a year into office at San Juan City Hall, Mayor Francis Zamora literally got his baptism of fire in trying to prevent the COVID-19 contamination to further spread in his city. Although the late couple was not San Juan City residents, their cases of COVID-19 transmission were recorded under Zamora’s area of jurisdiction.
Apparently, however, his efforts turned futile. Despite the San Juan City-wide dis-infection that the Mayor undertook, San Juan City recorded more COVID-19 infection cases while enforcing the lockdown. As of May 3 though, it would seem the contagion in the City is tapering off at 248 confirmed COVID cases; 215 suspected cases (2 probable suspects); 157 admitted/quarantined; 37 deaths; and 54 recovered.
Like any other Mayor, and other local government executives for that matter, Zamora can only do so much to try his best to contain the spread of the contagion if the people themselves do not follow or even violate the lockdown rules. The economic dislocation has forced marginalized sector, especially the poorest of the poor getting out of their houses and break quarantine rules just to seek assistance from the government, or from anyone, or from anywhere they can get help and save their families from starvation.
As former president Joseph Estrada often recited, “hungry stomach knows no laws.” This is just putting it dramatically as we have seen from the ensuing row between the camps of Mayor Zamora and the son of the erstwhile president, ex-Senator Jinggoy Estrada. Actually, there has been a brewing feud between the two that started over the deployment of rolling store run by Estrada’s daughter Janella who ran but lost to Zamora in the last May, 2019 mayoralty race.
As former vice mayor, Janella tried to enable San Juan City vendors by financing the rolling stores. They must sell vegetables and meat products at half the price being sold in their Agora public market while allowing them enough returns on their capital for the next day of selling. Zamora, however, stopped the “rolling stores” on the grounds it did not get the Mayor’s permit and that it violates anti-COVID measures on social distancing.
The feud escalated last Sunday when ex-Sen.Estrada distributed bangus (milkfish) to his former constituents in San Juan City. After all, the former Senator once served as Mayor for three terms before he got elected nationally. He was accosted by San Juan City police for alleged violation of the ECQ, among other charges. He was released a few hours later and got a stern warning from the police.
Both gentlemen have been into politics for almost all their lives. As young children of their politician parents, they got practically apprenticeship from them up close and personal. A PDP-Laban card bearing member, Mayor Zamora should follow the lead of their party chieftain President Duterte who welcomes all the help that could be given to Filipinos during this public health crisis that COVID-19 brought in to our country.
In his public address last Monday night, President Duterte reminded anew LGU executives in their respective roles in the national anti-COVID campaign. “Do not play heroes. Avoid it because I said we remain to be a unitary form of government. We are not federal,” President Duterte pointed out.
For almost two months now, the ECQ obviously is already getting into the nerves of all of us now loosely called as “lockdown fatigue.”
How much more is true for those people in the government like Mayor Zamora who are among the responsible officials mandated to implement the lockdown measures and the pressure to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 infection?
For many who have been basically under “house arrest” under the ECQ, lockdown fatigue can manifest itself in mental or psychological meltdown for some people. We can engage instead in activities that can keep us busy and productively occupied than wallow in boredom. Being idle can drive people into violating quarantine rules, if not doing something stupid.
But for the poor and disadvantaged sector of many of our countrymen, being forced to comply with lockdown rules got them out of their jobs and meager means to earn livelihood. It is in this context that we must to try to understand them instead of calling them “pasaway” or being hard-headed.
Keep in mind though, for all our sake, it’s better to be COVID-free. Coping with lockdown fatigue is a less deadly malaise than becoming part of the daily DOH statistics on COVID-19 infection.