MRT Wall of Remembrance

After reading about the latest Filipina casualty in the global war against Covid-19 in the UK, I wondered to myself if we as a nation will actually put up permanent reminders and tributes to the many doctors, nurses, police and frontliners who died in the line of duty fighting Covid-19 and will such a monument or wall be there for all to see everyday?  As many people know, there seems to be common practice in the Philippines to place such monuments in out of the way and out of sight places like at the end of C5 (who ever that figure is suppose to be) or on the sidewalk of Roxas Boulevard. This is why I came up with the title “MRT Wall of Remembrance.”

You might think of the wall of the MRT as “Not special enough” but if we commissioned or called in the many artists who showed their world-class talents painting murals of Kobe Bryant after he died unexpectedly to volunteer their time and talent, I have no doubt that such a tribute will have a global impact, not to mention the fact that the MRT is so long and so drab that it would be best put to use honoring today’s heroes and reminding Filipinos of their names and faces rather than being used for advertisements Filipinos have learned to live without since March 15. I hope the artists and the youth of the nation can come up with the mural of heroes; sections featuring the image, names, institutions and specialization that our fallen front-liners represent.

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“We” are getting soft on the strict implementation of the ECQ Stay At Home policy. Over the weekend, many Netizens who’ve obediently complied with the ECQ were clearly upset with images of crowds in different wet markets in Metro Manila particularly the Balintawak Market in Quezon City and the Kalentong public market in Mandaluyong where cars and crowds simply swarmed the place and forgot all about Social Distancing, several shoppers not even wearing face masks. The most common comment was how this behavior will surely jeopardize whatever gains we have achieved in trying to “flatten the curve” and how this will surely prolong our quarantine and detention.

A great idea I saw while watching Al Jazeera was how Peru implemented their own version of ODD-EVEN activities. Men would be allowed to go shopping thrice a week between Monday-Wednesday-Friday, while women go out sometime Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday or something like that. Perhaps the Quarantine Pass can have a designated day of the week so people in Metro Manila don’t just go out any day they want and as often as they want. As for the Balintawak and Kalentong Markets, the best solution is too simply fence the market and control the number of people and do an ODD-EVEN schedules when stores can open. That way everybody buys, sells and get what they need.

I am concerned with what would the situation look like and how would the PNP handle things once the ECQ is relaxed or lifted. The last thing we want is to see hundreds of thousands bust out of Metro Manila in a single day and create an even bigger problem along the highways and in the provinces. We will certainly have to think in advance of the event but for the mean time, our ground forces will have to start regaining control and doing stricter implementation of the ECQ.

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Unbeknownst to viewers of our TV program AGENDA on Cignal TV/TV5, the last two weeks have been quite testy for me as a result of broadcasting the show live from my house in Pasig, directed by our Executive Producer Gab in his condo in Mandaluyong, routed to the AGENDA Team in TV5 central in Mandaluyong and telecast somewhere in Quezon City. That actually is the easy part. The hard part is trying to achieve quality or acceptable broadcast standards using a laptop, an iPhone, two table lamps and portable pocket WIFIs. But just like the rest of the world, we all make do with what we have, learn new things, solve problems and march on.

The first thing I discovered with WFH or Work From Home broadcasting is you need a heroic frontliner like my wife Karen to sort things out, then you need a reliable and fast internet service. Having two pocket or portable wifis from both telcos simply didn’t cut it, so I sought the help of friends at PLDT Marco Borlongan, and Malu Alvendia formerly with PLDT to help process an emergency installation of Fiber Optic Internet in the house. The installation was done in about an hour with the fastest available package. That same afternoon, my friends commented on the big difference from previous days we were on Facebook video messenger. I eventually learned how to use the iPhone properly using fill lights and an external microphone but it gets complicated because you need a USB earpiece to monitor your audio. Unfortunately, the hulk managed to trash that in the beginning!

I’m now at the point where I have great Internet speed, found a ring light that my sister Marissa uses for Video podcasts along with a lapel mic. The choice now is to stick with the 8 year-old Mac Book or the iPhone 11. The search is still on for an affordable and available near-broadcast quality video camera, an audio interface box that puts together a mic and an earphone into your iPhone, etc., etc. So if any of you happen to own a store or shop with the things I need please email me. I don’t want to see the Hulk in my living room!

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