A new kind of SONA

Call this my third Zoom interview in “Straight from the Sky”, but yes, apparently using Zoom meant that I would be able to interview people so far away from Cebu City. As my faithful viewers know, last week I was able to Zoom interview Bohol Governor Arthur Yap and got a ton of information as to why Bohol had a very few COVID-19 infections and only one death. This week, we interview Siquijor Governor Zaldy Jecoy Villa so we can find out from him why among the islands in Central Visayas or Region-7 Siquijor has no COVID-19 infections or COVID-19 deaths in the past four months! This is remarkable!

To give a short preview for this Zoom interview, what I learned from Gov. Zaldy Villa that they have no infections or deaths due to the fact that Villa adhered to health protocols, like not allowing stranded residents who live in Siquijor to return home. For instance his only son, Siquijor’s Lone District Congressman Jec-Jec Villa, wanted to return home during the pandemic, but the governor refused to allow him to return home or even give him a special permit.

So in the end, the Provincial Task Force in Siquijor has remained firm in its decision to subject all LSIs, OFWs, and APORs to the same protocols, giving exemption only to doctors, medical frontliners, and other services essential to Siquijor. While they are exempted from the mandatory 14-day quarantine they still have to undergo a Rapid Diagnostic Tests and should test negative before going to work.

So this really was a very interesting Zoom interview with Gov. Zaldy Villa, and I would like to say that he has succeeded in making his island COVID-19-free because he is not a politician. So watch this show on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

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Today, President Rodrigo Duterte will deliver his 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasan Pambansa complex before a joint session of Congress at 2 p.m. We hope that the president will reveal the government's recovery plan as the Philippines is facing a health crisis and economic instability. But since this is expected to take place at 2 p.m. or even later, I don’t expect to get any points for my Tuesday column.

There’s more; according to Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, the president may switch to “Plan B” and deliver his SONA inside Malacañang rather than the Batasan Pambansa if many of the invited guests at Batasan Pambansa test positive for COVID-19. Hmmm, it seems that many of the invited guests have to submit themselves to a rapid COVID-19 test before they are allowed inside the Batasan Pambansa. Apparently, Malacañang earlier announced that Duterte would deliver his SONA at the House of Representatives in Quezon City before a limited number of guests. But what really is the limit of the number of guests? Nobody knows.

So what Sec. Martin Andanar is telling us is that the President’s SONA remains very “fluid” and could be moved if the test results show a huge positive in having COVID-19. At this point, we can only hope that Pres. Duterte would bring hope for a better future despite the challenges Filipinos are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taking a cue from the president’s right hand man, Sen. Bong Go says that he expects the president to provide concrete plans and propose legislative measures that would strengthen the government’s efforts to overcome the COVID crisis and steer the country towards socio-economic recovery. Go added, “I am expecting that the President would focus his 5th SONA on measures (1) to strengthen the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, (2) to address the needs of the people to overcome the hardships that the crisis has caused in everyone’s lives and also, (3) to sustain the gains of the Duterte administration’s promise of a comfortable life for all despite the challenges that we are facing.”

The goal now is not only to adapt to the “new normal”, but to lead our country towards a “better normal” and better quality of life. This is something I would really like to see; where the country is headed for in this new normal.