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Community Qua (Rant) Ined By: Joanna Wayne Horneja

The document discusses the Philippines government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic through an Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and perspectives from members of the Augustinian school community. There was criticism of the government's handling of the situation, including delays in mass testing, shortages of protective equipment, and lack of support for the poor. However, others felt the government did their best in a difficult situation or that the ECQ was necessary to slow the spread, despite economic impacts. Opinions varied on whether the government actions effectively addressed problems and citizen concerns.

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Janika Horneja
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66 views

Community Qua (Rant) Ined By: Joanna Wayne Horneja

The document discusses the Philippines government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic through an Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and perspectives from members of the Augustinian school community. There was criticism of the government's handling of the situation, including delays in mass testing, shortages of protective equipment, and lack of support for the poor. However, others felt the government did their best in a difficult situation or that the ECQ was necessary to slow the spread, despite economic impacts. Opinions varied on whether the government actions effectively addressed problems and citizen concerns.

Uploaded by

Janika Horneja
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Community Qua[rant]ined

By: Joanna Wayne Horneja

The rapid spread of the recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has stirred
up the world since the first quarter of 2020. Countries from all around the world had
various plans and decisions made in order to ensure the safety of its citizens during
this health crisis.

As of March 13, Philippines has been placed in an Enhanced Community Quarantine


(ECQ) by the national government in order to slow down its rate of infection among
Filipinos. This meant closed establishments, cancelled mass gatherings, online
classes and work from home activities as per quarantine protocol which also took a
great hit on the national economy. Moreover, daily-wage Filipino earners and the
poorest of the poor were also greatly affected by the implementation of the ECQ as
they are unable to feed their families without going out from their homes.

Online protests surfaced which criticized the administration’s “poor performance” in


handling the situation. These includes protests regarding the delay of mass testing,
shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers, and the lack
of concrete plans by the administration on budget allocation and long term solutions
to address the problems. These lapses also contributed into the further increase on
the number of infected cases in the Philippines.

Members of the Augustinian Community ponder on the question, “With the recent
decisions made by the national government, do you think the administration’s
actions were effective in addressing the problems and the concerns of its people?
Why or why not?” The Augustinian conducted online interviews among members of
the school community and gathered their opinions. Hear them out and join the
discussion.

“With all due respect to the national government, I would like to believe that they
are trying this best since no one was ready for this pandemic. But with regards to
measuring the effectiveness of actions, I think everyone is entitled to have different
opinions. As part of the middle class, I still manage to survive every day without aid
from the government. National and even local government focused their efforts on
reaching out to those who are in the marginalized sectors of the society and that is
deemed acceptable during this time. I firmly believed that there will be no perfect
government against this pandemic. For me, as long as the national government will
continue to sustain its efforts in boosting the health care system all over the country,
gives their 101% support to all the front line workers especially medical workers and
continue to create pro-active laws and orders to aid in flattening the curve then it
will be more than enough.”

- Marisol Tormon, (designation), Social Advocacy and Community


Engagement Office
“Intolerance of criticism is the greatest fault of the government, augmenting into a
troubled country with a compromised healthcare system and restless citizens
ruminating about food and financial security,”

- Michael Socias, Editor-in-Chief, SHS Publications

“At this time of crisis, the government seemed to be overhwelmed on the effects of
COVID-19 on the country’s economy and welfare. The administrations has made
difficult decisions on how to combat the virus; Decisions that are effective but some
of it lead people to confusions and conflicts. Overall, the government and some of its
leaders responded very well to this pandemic. It may not be perfect but still I believe
that they have done their very best in addressing the concernsand providing
assistances to the community.”

- Jennifer Erika Angeles, President, SHS Student Council

“In order to lower the curve, our country was for to be in ECQ, but the government’s
strategy did not meet the needs of the people. Our country cannot afford to be in a
pandemic, for our health system is lacking all the facilities it needs to handle the
COVID-19. It’s easy to say “Just stay home”, but it is not the case for most of the
population, they have to find ways to survive this pandemic because not everyone is
priveleged to do so and our government has done so little effort in addressing the
problems and meeting the needs of its people.”

- Ariane Dorada, Miss College of Health and Allied Medical Professions


2019

“In my honest opinion, the administration’s actions are unsatisfactory and


disappointing. My opinion is reflected on the following: (1) There is still no concrete
breakdown on how the Php 275B budget will be used, (2) There is a shortage of
PPEs and little to no financial aid for our medical and other staff that are essential in
managing this pandemic, and (3) Mass testing was set to be undergone on April 14,
however until now there has been no mass testing.”

- Adre Mathieu Diaz, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics


Student

“As the ECQ continues, we are still struggling due to the incompetence of our
government. First of all, this virus wouldn’t have spread easily If the national
government took action and issued a travel ban in the Philippines. Dito pa lang
nakikita na ng mga tao how poorly they handle critical situations. Second is that
kung paano nila hawakan yung budget allocation para sa mga taong nawalan ng
pang araw-araw na gastusin at sa mga test kits for COVID-19. Not all people are
privileged, kaya nga sila may dalawa o tatlong trabaho para makakain lang ang
kanilang pamilya. I was disappointed seeing people in social media being rejected of
their rights to receive relief goods just because they are not qualified. Although we
cannot put everything on the governmen, we are also to blame for not taking their
actions seriously. Mainam na sundin natin ang kanilang mga desisyon sapagkat sila
ang naglagay sa atin sa sitwasyon na ito.”

- Aldrinne Desalit, 2nd Year, BS Medical Laboratory Science

“The decisions made by thenational government were very practical yet risky.
Practical in a sense that the ECQ was implied in order to stop the virus from rapidly
spreading. Risky because the effect of he ECQ to our economy is very big that
people especially from the lower class are affected due to the strict compliance of
the ECQ. Their livelihoods are at stake and they have limited opportunities to get
income to feed their families. There are compensations given, but they aren’t
enough.”

- Joules Mark Billones, 1st Year, BS Pharmacy

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