By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
As if we are now in a new normal. Most people now think we are back in pre-pandemic times.
Buses, jeepneys, taxis, etc. are wheezing by with nary a care about the pandemic. Social distancing seems not to be a rule anymore. Such vehicles are jampacked with passengers. And the cellophane divisions separating passengers from each other or the driver from passengers have disappeared.
But are we really out of the woods? No. The pandemic is still here although infections that used to be scary are now supposed to be minimal based on official announcements. Or is it because it is the campaign period so politicians “doctored” the real situation to allow them to campaign?
Nothing is impossible in the Philippines and “doctoring” of covid-19 data is nothing compared to the other illegal acts that our politicians commit.
And we don’t trust our officials? Yes, we don’t trust our officials. You might be better off trusting your mother-in-law than our officials. That is the sad situation. Relying on our officials for our welfare is like allowing or hiring Dracula to keep watch over our blood bank.
The attitude of most is to wait and see what will happen right after the election. Will there be a sudden rise in the number of covid cases which will mean the imposition off granular lockdowns? Whoever will impose such will be courting a revolution. The genie has already jumped out of the bottle and you would not be able to put it back. After tasting freedom of movement, the attitude of everyone now is NO WAY! NO WAY TO ANY KIND OF LOCKDOWN!
If our politicians know what is good for them, they might as well mobilize government health officers and personnel to institute any kind of intervention to avoid any lockdown after the election.
I know of a local politician whose favorite solutions to surges in covid cases in the past were lockdowns. He is now limping in the political race.
As everywhere else in the whole world, while the majority of the people were dying or suffering from the pandemic, many were so creative they made a lot of money. As they say, there are so many ways of skinning a cat—of making money.
A lot of money were made from quarantine facilities, vaccines, swab tests, medicines, transport facilities, etc., etc., often at exorbitant rates.
Such kind of enterprise is making money from the miseries of others. You’ve got to be heartless and there would be a big consequence, a very heavy bad karma. When it ripens, you will be helpless about its falling down on your lap. It will be yours and yours alone.
So those who made money from the miseries of others through anomalous ways (remember the unconscionably priced face masks and shields), including those in very high positions, might be laughing now but the last laugh will be ours.
Let us vote for those who can promise to go after those who committed anomalies in government and their conspirators. These are usually those in power.**
