And now for the good news of 2023:
The pandemic is over; in May, the World Health Organization lifted the declaration of COVID-19 as a global health emergency.
President Marcos then lifted the state of public health emergency in the Philippines on July 21.
Thanks to the lifting of all pandemic restrictions and the full return of in-person classes, economic recovery accelerated in 2023.
While SARS-CoV-2 refuses to disappear permanently and keeps mutating, and people including the vaccinated and boosted (such as BBM) are still catching COVID, the cases are drastically down enough to allow the world to return almost completely to pre-pandemic normal.
There was a 100-year gap between COVID and the killer Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920, and a 600-year gap between that flu pandemic and the bubonic plague, the so-called Black Death that killed an estimated 25 million people across Europe, North Africa and Asia between 1347 and 1351. We ended 2023 with the presumption that we won’t be seeing another pandemic on the scale of COVID in our lifetime.
(AIDS, while not a pandemic, is classified as an epidemic, with 40.4 million people dying of the virus and AIDS-related complications from the first diagnosed case in 1981 until 2022, according to UNAIDS. The first verified case of HIV was recorded in 1959.)
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The year ends with no repeat of the unprecedented 2022 onion crisis. No sarcastic memes about agricultural commodities this holiday season.
Instead the food-related memes spread at the onset of Christmas in the Philippines – the start of the so-called ’ber months – when rice dealers held on to their regular-milled and well-milled rice amid an ill-advised price cap, and sold only special and premium varieties.
It’s been a good year for the person who reportedly gave that knee-jerk advice to Mr. P20-a-kilo rice. The coming year will show whether the person can rein in an emerging penchant for abuse of power.
The year 2023 has been generally good for Marcos 2.0, based on his still high survey ratings.
For many people, BBM’s relinquishment of his concurrent post as secretary of agriculture was good news. All the major non-political problems since he took office were related to agriculture and food security. Let’s hope his chosen replacement, fishing tycoon Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr., will provide some good news in the ailing agricultural sector this 2024.
On the political front, after several postponements, the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections finally pushed through in October, with the Supreme Court prohibiting any more postponement that will mean an unconstitutional extension of the terms of BSK officials.
In a reversal of its previous hardline stance, the Marcos 2.0 administration is now studying cooperation with the International Criminal Court. Human rights advocates are hoping that he will go all the way and restore the country’s membership in the ICC.
Obviously, this is bad news for Rodrigo Duterte and his family. It’s been a bad year for the former president and his daughter the Vice President. What’s bad news for them, however, is terrific news for advocates of human rights and good governance, so I’m including their plight in 2023 in this article focusing on the positive developments in the year just past.
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Apart from seeing the Duterte name slipping in the surveys (although their numbers are still considerably high), VP Sara has just lost an enormous P650 million in secret funds that she had sought for her two offices for 2024.
The realignment of confidential funds to agencies involved in national security, public safety and enforcement of national sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea is another piece of good news in 2023.
It would be even better news if the curtailment of secret funds for civilian agencies can be extended to local government units. As mayor of Davao City, Sara Duterte enjoyed an annual confidential fund allocation of P460 million from 2019 until she became VP. Perhaps a Supreme Court ruling institutionalizing the reforms will be among the pieces of good news in 2024.
Apart from losing massive public funding, the Dutertes also lost their bully pulpit, at least for a month: Sonshine Media Network International has been silenced for 30 days by the National Telecommunications Commission (and for two weeks by the movie / TV censors). SMNI is appealing the suspension; by the time a ruling is handed down, the 30 days would likely be over.
The moves of both the censors and NTC are setting precedents that should worry other broadcasting networks and rights advocates. But right now, those who have been on the receiving end of Duterte’s tirades are reveling in seeing him (plus Lorraine Badoy) being gagged by the state; for them, the Dutertes’ reversal of fortune is good news.
We all know that the negative developments surrounding the Dutertes spring not from any genuine interest in accountability and good government, but from political bickering and an ever widening rift within the vaunted UniTeam.
This, however, should prove to be good news for the health of our democracy. Perhaps a better alternative to the two warring factions will emerge, just in time for the next presidential race.
The year ends with BBM giving peace a chance, through the resumption of exploratory talks for the possible revival of formal peace negotiations with communist rebels. We get a sense of déjà vu here; previous talks collapsed. But in the New Year, we look on the bright side.
May you have a happy, prosperous 2024!