Now the whole nation is under quarantine

Exactly 63 years ago today, the Philippines heard terrible news when they learned that the 7th president of the Philippines, Pres. Ramon Magsaysay, died in a plane crash in the mountains of central Cebu, specifically Mt. Manunggal. It was on March 16, 1957 when President Magsaysay arrived at the old Lahug Airport in Cebu City for a series of speaking engagements. He spoke at a convention of USAFFE veterans, at the University of the Visayas, the Southwestern College, and at the University of San Carlos.

After his official speeches, the president attended a party at the home of Cebu City Mayor Sergio Osmeña Jr. Before he left for the Lahug Airport, he dropped by the Cebu Archbishop’s Palace to pray and proceeded to the airport where well-wishers led by former president Sergio Osmeña Sr. the father of Mayor Osmeña saw him off. His presidential plane, a Douglas C-47 named Mt. Pinatubo, left the Lahug airport and later into Mt. Manunggal in that part of the town of Balamban.

With the creation of the Transcentral Highway, I was able to drive to the crash site some years back because it is only seven kilometers from the main road. Looking at where the C-47 crashed, all it needed to do was clear 500 feet and Pres. Magsaysay wouldn’t have died in that fiery crash. I will never forget the day when a Sikorsky UH-19 Chickasaw helicopter arrived in what is now the main corner of Salinas Drive and the entrance to the IT Park as my father brought me with him to meet the remains of the president. I was only five years old, but this memory of that time 63 years ago was vivid because it was also the first time I saw a helicopter.

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As I learned from my Facebook page, Governor Gwen F. Garcia declared the entire Province of Cebu closed to domestic travelers in all its seaports 72 hours from March 15 and its airport 48 hours from March 15 but those coming from Clark, Legazpi City, Cagayan de Oro City, and Dumaguete City will be barred entry effective immediately. However the ban covers persons only and that the movement of cargoes and products will remain unimpeded.

Not to be outdone, Mayor Edgardo Labella placed Cebu City under a 30-day community quarantine starting today until April 14, 2020 in efforts to ward off and contain COVID-19. To us, this means that residents of the city are strongly advised to stay in their homes, and may only come out for work, to buy food, medicines, and necessary supplies, and go to medical centers.

The mayor told reporters that no one should be in the malls, community centers, commercial areas, and other public areas if they do not have any important transactions in there.

Actually, I read in The Philippine STAR a report that almost all provinces or regions in the Philippines have already declared a community quarantine, where people who do not live in those areas are allowed to go home, but no more entry to airlines and ferries have been implemented. So we are really talking about the whole Philippines going on quarantine.

At this point, all I wanted to know from Labella is why hasn’t he stopped the night market in Colon Street when he knows too well that this is a breeding ground to spread the virus? So far as of this writing I have not heard that he was stopping this activity. The new measures are contained in his Executive Order No. 052, which also includes the following:

• Suspension of classes in both public and private educational institutions in all levels is extended until April 14, 2020. All educational institutions are to implement distance learning and provide home assignments and projects to all students to continue the fulfillment of their educational requirements.

Last Sunday, just for compliance, we all stayed home and enjoyed watching TV. Yes, we are all sick of watching news about COVID-19 except for that report I got that Bill Gates was able to predict that the problem of the human race wouldn’t be nuclear bombs, but through the spread of some virus because man has not spent money to come up with a vaccine that would control these viruses. But a huge amount of money has been spent to develop nuclear weapons. So let’s all sit down and watch where this whole episode takes us.