D-Day this Friday: From ECQ to GCQ?

I already wrote my piece about the issue that closed the ABS-CBN Network by government regulators and even asked why they could not get a new franchise during the term of then president Benigno “PNoy” Aquino at a time when he was so powerful. He was able to remove a sitting chief justice of the Supreme Court (SC), the late chief justice Renato Corona. So why didn’t the bosses of ABS-CBN push their panic button and get that much needed franchise back then?

So here we are with House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano who vowed to “fix the mess” spawned by the closure of ABS-CBN by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). Speaker Cayetano said that the cease and desist order (CDO) issued by the NTC “unnecessarily complicated” the franchise issue and forced the House of Representatives to adjust its priorities instead of just focusing on measures to check the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and ease its impact on livelihood. The House Speaker added, the NTC and Solicitor General Jose Calida would be made to account for their actions.

Perhaps Speaker Cayetano forgot that Congress too has to be made accountable for their inaction! I dare say that they had a chance to issue ABS-CBN a new franchise on March 10 before Congress went into Lenten break when the official recess began. But then they were overconfident that by the time Congress resumes its session they would discuss this, perhaps stretch it up to the election season so that Congress can make something out of this franchise issue. However no one ever predicted that the coronavirus would result in the country calling for an Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and worse… no one ever predicted that our situation would become a worldwide phenomenon that would bring down the strongest economies in the world!

As we learned from a STAR report, the committee scheduled a hearing on franchise bills before the end of this month after passing all needed measures to address the pandemic that the House leadership deemed as more urgent. But insiders bared that due to the action of the regulatory commission, the House had to adjust its calendar to include the franchise bills in its priorities along with the economic stimulus program as well as “new normal” measures. Meanwhile, no specific date yet has been set for the continuation of hearings. So, is Congress going to resume its hearings or not? Abangan!

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D-Day for the Philippines is this Friday, May 15 when Pres. Duterte and the Inter Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) would decide whether or not to shift us from our present ECQ to General Community Quarantine (GCQ). We expect that aside from Metro Manila, other areas under ECQ until Friday are Central Luzon except Aurora province, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Pangasinan, Benguet, Albay, Iloilo including Iloilo City, Cebu including Cebu City, Bacolod City, Zamboanga City and Davao City.

To prevent from being bored at home, I looked up the fatality rate in the areas supposedly with the highest number of cases. Quezon City has 1,558 confirmed cases with 121 deaths. Cebu City has 1,571 confirmed cases with only 11 deaths. Actually the number from the Cebu City Health office only has seven deaths. Manila has 833 cases with 69 deaths, while Parañaque has 500 cases with 39 deaths. Makati has 477 cases with 30 deaths. Why was there a difference in the DOH numbers versus Cebu City Health numbers? I really don’t know. But for me the death rate in Cebu City, whether it is seven or 11 is of no major consequence if you compared the death rate let’s say in New York City!

At this point, I would like to emphasize that with our death rate pegged at 11 dead since the ECQ began, it is still remarkably low spite of the fact that so many people living in many sitios or barangays do not even follow social distancing, which is for me one of the best ways to ensure that there would be no spreading the coronavirus disease.

I’d also like to know what really is the death rate for Cebu City before the COVID-19 struck us? The government imposed ECQ in some areas to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 10,000 people in the country. Under ECQ, only essential businesses and services, including those related to food production and health services, are allowed to operate and public transportation is suspended. In GCQ areas, selected businesses may reopen but they should observe social distancing and health standards like temperature checks and disinfection of facilities. Some forms of public transportation are also allowed to operate but at reduced capacity. So let’s decide to shift to GCQ or not this Friday, our D-Day!

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