Will somebody shut Alvin Dizon up

Alvin Dizon, a Cebu City councilor, has proposed to Mayor Edgar Labella the cancellation of all ECQ passes issued by the city. According to Dizon the passes only sowed chaos and confusion. Moreover, the coronavirus could survive for 24 hours on the cardboard on which the passes are printed, thereby adding one more potential means of transmitting the germ.

Will somebody shut Alvin Dizon up? If he has nothing positive to contribute to the situation, he should keep his crazy ideas to himself. If he keeps on talking, he himself could become the very thing he fears. Talking, and not just coughing and sneezing causes droplets to explode from the mouth, in case Dizon had not been paying attention. Droplets are the main contaminants of the coronavirus disease.

But let us take up Dizon first on his contentions. He says the ECQ passes cause chaos and contention. Really? Can Dizon cite one example when the passes caused the tumult he speaks of? The only uproar was when there were not enough passes issued in relation to the number of households in the city. The shortage caused the problem, not the passes.

I submit we can do away with the passes, but only if the city government can ensure every household will be provided with what they need to survive for the duration of the enhanced community quarantine. If Dizon can assure all city residents will not die of hunger or disease, then let us all burn our passes and stay happily at home. Kana pa, dili na ta motrabaho, magpabuhi na lang ta ni Dizon.

But that is not going to happen. Neither the city nor Dizon has the resources and the means to feed and look after every need of every city resident. They need to fend for their own selves. And that is why they need passes. Passes allow the regulation of those who need to go out of quarantine. They limit the number of people outside their homes. They complement the goals of quarantine.

As to the ECQ cardboard passes being a potential carrier of germs, Dizon is correct in that. But so is his shirt, or his pants, his cellphone. Even the mouth of Dizon is a potential carrier unless he stops talking. In other words, almost anything that comes into contact with an infected person or the germs that person carries can be a contaminant. So why zero in on something far more useful than a councilor?

In this time of great challenges, Mayor Labella has so many things on his plate. He should be allowed to be the leader Cebuanos elected him to be without wasting his time getting distracted by inane ideas. Labella is a professional. If he needs other ideas, he will ask for them. But at this time he should be left to exercise his leadership to the best that he is able.

Councilor Dave Tumulak is far better. Without making any noise, Tumulak authored a proposed ordinance against discrimination against the frontliners who are risking their lives in the fight against the deadly coronavirus. Tumulak promptly saw an urgent need and promptly moved to address it. Mao ni maayo nga opisyal, lihok ang pasultihon, dili sulti ang palihokon (with apologies to Governor Gwen who coined the phrase and lives by it).