Salutes are great, but…

No thanks to COVID-19, we are all practically living within our own little bubbles or boxes, mostly concerned for our family, our needs and our health. To our credit, we have managed to show gratitude and appreciation for the front liners who make a decision everyday to serve us at the risk of their own lives and to the utter disadvantage of their families or loved ones. In like manner, many people have shown their appreciation for the volunteerism and philanthropy of many conglomerates, corporations and businessmen and women by posting messages and pictures on Facebook and Instagram. Salutes are great but they need cash flow and as consumers only we have the power of Payback.

I sincerely believe that it is now “payback time” by making a commitment to be a patriotic consumer. Time and again I have written about “Buy Filipino” – “Buy Local” – “Go Lokal”. But now when many Philippine companies and businesses are making sacrifices and sharing the financial pain to help us all, we in turn can pay back by buying their products, supporting their operations and promoting their businesses. The idea is not just about patriotism or “utang na loob,” many developed nations have started to pull back or call home their overseas investments and factories particularly in China because the Wuhan lockdown taught all of them that security is not based on cheap or lower cost, it is based on what is on the ground and inside your territory. Because China became the factory of the world, the world ended up at the mercy of Chinese manufacturers and suppliers when countries fought over facemasks and respirators. What’s next: medicines, canned food, rice? Help keep the business in the Philippines!

I recently got a message from veteran actor and entertainer Leo Martinez, for all of us to join him in a campaign to post or share something that we are individually impressed or proud about in our respective communities and post these stories on social media so we can build up a treasure trove of positivity and heritage. In like manner, why not talk about the local products and brands you like, relish, enjoy or appreciate?  Why not stitch it all together and share stories or memories about the first time you went camping and cooked a particular corned beef, your first milk brand, why you will never forget a particular restaurant, or your first beer, your first plane ride? But more than stories, I invite all of you to try to take your time at the supermarket or take time to write down a list of specific Philippine made products before you go out shopping. Given that shopping is the only “free time” you have, make the most of it. Be intentional – be a Patriotic Consumer!

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There is the saying that goes, “When it rains, it pours,” and from the way things have been happening in “Las Islas de Pasaway” that seems to be the case as far as the number of people violating the ECQ or Enhanced Community Quarantine is concerned. I’m not talking about the number of violators actually arrested, I’m talking about crowds who seem to have forgotten or blatantly ignored the ECQ order of President Duterte. Last weekend, there were already a number of complaints about crowds converging at the Balintawak public market in Quezon City and the Kalentong market in Mandaluyong City. To their credit local officials quickly responded to remedy the situation, but all that publicity did not stop COVIDiots from doing really stupid things such as staging illegal cockfights, staging a public boxing exhibition, holding bingo games as well as a parade to honor frontliners. Again local officials responded, with Mayor Isko Moreno locking down an entire barangay reportedly for only 24 hours (should have been a week), another confiscating fighting cocks and turning them into tinola for frontliners, and another making arrested violators squat in front of a TV to watch two hours worth of COVID-19 documentaries and infomercials.

Sad to say, that does not seem to convince or reach the general public in terms of government’s appeal for all of us to limit our movement outdoors or to simply stay home and be safe from the virus. Last Monday as I watched the evening news, one correspondent was standing somewhere along Commonwealth Avenue I think, and I could not believe the number of cars, vans, trucks and motorcycles that drove past the reporter. By Tuesday afternoon, I received a video via Viber from one of our viewers showing what was purportedly a video taken from the top of a building overlooking the central part of Divisoria where a small procession of shoppers were passing through. Yes, there was crowd in a place that should be like a ghost town. Yesterday, as I drove past Shaw Boulevard coming from our studio area, I immediately noticed a bigger number of vehicles driving past reminiscent of the traffic volume on holidays. Incidentally I saw at least two healthy looking men standing near the traffic light begging for coins or food. Much as I wanted to help, I refused to because they should be begging from their barangay captain and not be on the streets.

Can our officials in the IATF please discuss this growing problem. We are so near and yet so far if we allow COVIDiots to needlessly or mindlessly drive around or beg in the city streets while the rest of us are praying and obeying for Filipinos to be healed, spared or relieved of COVID-19. In this situation, it is not COVID-19 that we should be afraid of, it’s the COVIDiots who carry the virus around town. With a week and a half to go can we please clamp down on these “Viajeros without a purpose.”

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