Shooting – wrestling – shaming etc.

The facts speak for themselves. In just one week, we have witnessed the actual shooting of a retired member of the military, policemen walking into a condominium complex and reportedly shouting at residents to observe social distancing in what was effectively their “backyard,” this was followed by the latest video of a police officer who was “used” by village officials to arrest a maid for watering the lawn because she was not wearing a mask on a deserted street, but that ended with the policeman wrestling a foreign resident over the matter. The week before that, an NBI official actually tried to haul the Vice President of the Philippines for an “interview.” 

Those incidents were simply highlighted because it was the VP, or because of the gravity of a homicide, or because the intrusions occurred in gated communities and were seen on Facebook.

But there have been far more untoward incidents where the victims were “ordinary Filipinos” who could not voice their sentiment or “push back” at what has slowly but surely turned into a growing trend of abuse of power either by village association officials, barangay officials and in some cases over eager or power tripping members of the PNP gunning for a promotion or media visibility. The fact that all these have streamed on social media tells us and warns the government that the IATF particularly the DILG needs to seriously and urgently review the rules and guidelines concerning the ECQ because people are getting hurt and people’s patience are beginning to run out. The DILG needs to get on top of the situation and clearly define who makes the rules and what rules are allowed. Most important of all the DILG would be well advised to consider the wise words of Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque who said “There is the law and there is common sense.”

I recently interviewed Dr. Susie Pineda Mercado and she pointed out that the ECQ order is for all of us to “stay home,” NOT stay indoors because that would seriously compromise our health, immunity and sanity. We all need at least 15 to 20 minutes of exposure to sunlight in order for our bodies to produce vitamin D that is vital in increasing our resistance or immunity. Being confined indoors for 30 days is equivalent to detention and not quarantine. Interestingly, experts abroad have pointed out that quarantine is about isolating the sick not the healthy. The rules state that we should wear masks and observe social distancing. Why should association presidents be allowed to make up their own rules such as no walking your dogs, no walking or jogging in the village park or no swimming in the pool while all the other villages around you allow it all? Why fine a maid P1,000 for not wearing a mask on a deserted street inside an exclusive village? Ironic that a former mayor of Makati could not enter a private village at will and now a private village calls in the police to do something that their village security can do. Our police officers have more important things to attend to than playing baby sitter to officials of exclusive villages who are kingdoms unto themselves.

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Now that you think about it, perhaps the Pagcor vice president who suggested and came up with the “Island for POGO companies” at the old Covelandia complex may have had the right idea. If President Duterte won’t agree to kicking out all the POGO operators in the Philippines, then let’s place them on an island so we won’t have to worry about future COVID-19 reinfections, criminal activities such as prostitution, as well as risks to national security. But instead of placing them on the old Covelandia complex in Cavite, let’s make use of a more medically and militarily secure complex: Corregidor Island. The POGO employees will surely be safe there and we will all be safe from them. By slowly tracking and herding them all there, the BIR, the DOF, DOLE and the Immigrations bureau will all slowly but surely be able to document, tax and monitor any and all POGO workers both legal and illegal.

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The one thing I know about provincial executives is that they are a good source for fresh inputs or perspective. It was Mayor Alfred Romualdez who first talked about “Balik Probinsya” just before COVID-19 ECQ and shortly after that Senator Christopher “Bong” Go gave the same recommendations to President Rodrigo Duterte. My only wish is that the great idea that both executives put forward will actually be acted upon by DOLE Secretary Bebot Bello who seems to be over focused on OFWs at the expense of stranded workers on the ground in country. The Balik Probinsya program needs to be worked out NOW before the Luzon ECQ is lifted because there are thousands of stranded workers in Metro Manila.

In my most recent conversation with Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez he mentioned the lament of Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez who told the president that due to the ECQ, in Metro Manila, the DOF has suffered from reduced tax collections. To this, Mayor Romualdez pointed out that part of the problem is because many companies or corporations in the Philippines have their operations outside Metro Manila but pay taxes in Metro Manila. Many big hotels, resorts, malls, retail chains, mining companies, agri corporations all have their businesses in the thousands of islands from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. But when it’s time to pay taxes they do it in the district where their head offices are located. Many mayors and governors have long complained about this because what happens is that cities like Makati, Quezon City, etc get the lion share alongside the national government. Mayor Romualdez urges members of Congress and the DOF to correct this mistake so that taxes are paid where the income or transaction takes place and there is a proper distribution of tax payments.