No balance to strike between pandemic and election

All over the town proper, at almost every major street corner, are posted large announcements of the existence and effectivity of a municipal ordinance requiring the wearing of face masks and face shields in public and inside certain types of establishments. The same ordinance also prohibits anyone from spitting in public. Corresponding fines and penalties for violating the ordinance are also posted alongside.

These announcements were posted many months ago. Now, word spreads fast in a small town but one has yet to hear of a single violator getting penalized. Facebook is silent on any tsismis about so-and-so even just getting accosted by some authority symbol for violating the ordinance. The LGU itself, which is very active in self-promotion, has not posted anything in furtherance of the ordinance.

Could this absence of even just a single arrest mean not a single violation has been committed? Unfortunately, that is not the case. The truth is, no ordinance in the town has probably been more violated than this one. Everywhere you look is a violation. Many do not wear face masks, or wear them improperly. Face shields have ceased to be the partner of masks. And spitting just happens to be a way of life for a number of people.

Having all these violations happening while all of the announcements prohibiting or requiring them continue to be posted all around makes for a laughable situation in the town. They cannot be in the same place together. It has to be one or the other. If the town cannot enforce the ordinance, then it is best to repeal it. Otherwise, it is not only laughable, it is embarrassing, and an insult to those who made it.

There is right now a reported uptick in the number of suspected COVID-19 cases and I would not be surprised if the lack of any real seriousness in implementing this otherwise important and helpful ordinance is not among the major culprits at the bottom of it, alongside the almost total collapse of social distancing as a health protocol.

But why is there a seeming total disregard for such a useful ordinance? Why make it a mere tool for pogi points, a false claim to a town's pro-active responsiveness when in truth and in fact it is a real ordinance with valuable benefits if only implemented according to its stated intents? An ordinance like this should not be made cheaper than the posters it has been printed on.

What is even worse than negligence in implementing the ordinance is the possible political motivation that could be behind all this. We have crossed the threshold into an election year, so it is hoped that politics has nothing to do with this travesty. Our worst fear is that, against the specter of COVID-19, health protocol violations are being tolerated and condoned for voting considerations.

In every election, even a single vote is precious. But in a health crisis such as a pandemic, the life of a person is even more valuable. We cannot trifle with human life. Every means must be employed to protect it. If your town has an ordinance meant to safeguard human life, obey it even if the LGU itself is not keen on doing it. Remember, your town, my town, everybody's town is, on the whole, our nation, our country, our only home.