America in crisis

On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, the whole world witnessed a political crisis in the United States of America never seen in recent years. As a country which prides itself as a model for political maturity, the chaos and destruction caused by the dangerous mob in attacking the US Capitol leaves us wondering about the state of the collective patriotic soul of this country, and where this will lead to. To be fair, riots in America are not anything new. Only last summer, we witnessed the burning of our cities, the looting of our businesses and the violent protests all staged against police brutality and institutional racism. What happened at the US Capitol was just a slice of a country tearing itself apart carved out by generations of distrust against its political institutions. Sadly, in the short term, it has no clear and forthcoming panacea for self-restoration. The country needs to do an honest introspection if this grand democratic experiment is still worth pursuing. Before America even thinks of propagating its “values” to other nations, it must ask itself if it still has the moral ascendancy to preach the tenets of democracy, freedom, and rule of law. One could only surmise the feeling of validation and self-affirmation by autocratic rulers in some parts of the world who shamelessly run their countries with their strong arm of tyranny and despotism.

The chaos that is unfolding in America right now is not only a disaster of political leadership from both parties, but also that of spiritual and moral crisis. Leaders come and go. Policies and agenda change. But what remains ever more relevant is the very core of the founding principle --that all men are created equal and that their rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness are endowed by their Creator. We can only hope that every single American can find that spiritual and moral awakening as a way to heal this ever-widening societal chasm.

* * *

As I mentioned in the past, in this fight against this pandemic, where Cebu City goes, the rest of the province follows. Being uniquely situated as the financial, tourism, medical, and educational hub, this city generates enormous level of various pursuits that necessarily and unavoidably draws public activities.  Like most of my Cebuano friends, I am quite worried about the increasing number of COVID-19 cases we have seen in recent days especially in Cebu City. This spike can reasonably be attributed to the traditional festivities during the Christmas season which has also been the case in other places. Here in the US, cases have been steadily rising at an alarming rate since the Thanksgiving holiday and has continued until this very day with no signs of ever slowing down. With people traveling, shopping, congregating, and spending time together during the holidays, it is expected that the level of transmission of the virus will also go high.

It is for this reason that people breathed a sigh of relief when the Sinulog was officially cancelled. Personally, I also did not think holding it amidst the bolder and scarier pandemic, was a smart idea. It was such a waste of taxpayers’ money to the tune of P25 million with no conceivable gain or return of investment to the city and to the business community. The P25M can best be reallocated to more important needs such as expanded and more widespread testing, vaccine procurement and continuing financial support to the unemployed.

But what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. There is a growing sense of wariness that the in-person novena Masses presently held at the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu could be a potential super spreader event for COVID-19. I know that there are specific precautions being implemented by the Church which allowed the IATF to provide its permission, yet judging by the number of people attending the services and their close proximity to each other, one cannot help but ask how high is the likelihood of coronavirus spreading between these attendees? What about those devotees who were not able to get inside the basilica and congregating at the side streets? What about the other people these attendees met on their way to church and going back to their homes or places they went to after attending Masses (which they never would have gone to had they just stayed at home).

As the novena Masses have already started anyway, I hope there are measures in place to conduct reliable contact tracing, assistance by the Church to those infected and even immediate suspension of the in-person Masses should a positive case be traceable to these Masses.