Quarantine tales

I have enough supply of food inside our fridge that will last me about a week. Luckily enough, I can leave the house anytime I want before curfew hours if I want to get more. That's how lucky I am during this enhanced community quarantine. But there are those who starve and wait on the government's assistance because they rely on a daily wage. With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, it’s still unclear if they can ever return to their jobs or even earn money for the time being.

When a group of protesters from Quezon City demanded food assistance, they were chased by policemen as if they were stray animals. They reasoned out that social distancing was not observed and they have breached the quarantine's protocol of staying at home. It’s true, the virus may not reach these people but they would be dead because of hunger. The lack of food would kill them. It doesn’t only apply to those who protested but to many other underprivileged people across the country.

The numbers are rising by the minute, and we cower inside our homes in fear. When will this ever end? Others are making use of their time by volunteering -- making personal protective equipment, face shields, masks, and delivering food to frontliners. While the rest of the country is working hand-in-hand to combat this virus, we are looking for our leaders. Where are they? The senators and congressmen claim to be silently working. The vice president and the president are in a current squabble on how to handle the situation. We are in a limbo, a mess. Nobody was ever prepared for this.

Vico Sotto became a trending topic when he wanted to use tricycles to ferry frontliners. He is to be investigated for going against the quarantine rules, while others are getting away with the little breaches that they have done. There is no consistency in local government units on how to go about their ECQ. Others are issuing different kind of passes which makes it all confusing. The border control sometimes gets out of hand as others want to lord it over the authorities. There is no order, there is chaos.

For us here in Cebu, it's going to a week now in the following days for the ECQ. I am going nuts over the current situation. While I am comfortable inside my own home, I cannot fathom how others are looking for means to eat in this crisis. Yes, government help is there, but how quickly? And will there also be enough for everyone? Religious sectors are making movements left and right to call unto the heavens for relief on this matter. The world is losing so much, I don't know how we can all cope now.