How not to handle a pandemic
By: Dunston Chi Esquivel
One year. Losing one year to masks, Netflix, and Zoom meetings wasn’t really the plan everyone was gunning for this year. Yet, nine months have gone by and not much has changed, nor does it seem the prospect of it will. The country is still expecting the 648,000 cases to rise as March ends and the 12,900 deaths are not likely to stop there too. People have outstayed their quarantines for far too long. Are they still to blame for needing to live the life deprived of them from the past couple of months?
The government has yet to acknowledge that it has not been successful in its handling of the pandemic. To acknowledge that is to stop militarizing its response and instead take a science and health-based one.
Instances of militarizing government response to health issues aren’t new in the Duterte era. Even before the pandemic, the declaration of the war on drugs did not only fail to end the drug problem, it also exposed a corrupt police force that cost the life of approximately 12,000 according to a Human Rights Watch report. Then, the pandemic hit and took us all into heavily imposed lockdowns and frenzy over installing as many police-guarded checkpoints officials possibly could. Policies like these come from the minds of former military officials such as Delfin Lorenzana of the National Action Plan (NAP), Eduardo Ano of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), and Carlito Galvez as the chief implementer — defying the convention of appointing doctors, scientists, and experts during a health crisis.
The country saw itself losing an indispensable asset. As of Nov. 29, the total number of health workers with COVID-19 reached 12,425, and among those, 76 have died. This is to add to the 16,000 more who left to pursue their careers abroad, with 5,000 more expecting leave as the deployment ban is lifted. It has raised questions about how these essential workers are valued when reports of meagre pay and delayed benefits practically leave them defenseless. Only to find themselves at the crosshairs of the president’s “Wala kayong magawa kung ‘di magreklamo” remark for merely recommending steps to improve government efforts, not too long ago. Efforts that could have prevented the number of cases and deaths today.
Even being one of the longest and most aggressive lockdowns in the world did not prevent the country from being the second-worst in Southeast Asia, with Indonesia — who also adopts a militarized response — topping the list. The need to retire the “walang disiplina” narrative to justify prioritizing the police and military over doctors and experts is now, and the prolonged lockdown and a botched drug war have been proof of that.
“The backbone of my administration is the uniformed personnel of government.”
The pandemic is a public health issue, thus the response must be on public health too. The discipline and work ethic that comes with being military definitely compliments the demands of the job, but even a well-oiled machine is useless without great operators. And great operators in this case strategize based on science and research. Something these officials have failed to prioritize. Like adopting and investing in a mass testing campaign, that even Pres. Duterte himself just recently admitted, despite being nine months late. Frequent lip service to health workers is also a manifestation of this administration’s misplaced priority. Stories of delayed pays and exhaustion became the norm, contrary to Duterte’s promise of support. A non-issue for uniformed personnel unlike health workers, which is not to antagonize the former, but to question how it was difficult for the latter.
The appointment of Galvez as the vaccine czar sets another example of Duterte’s neglect for science and health-based policies. What relevant skills do a retired military general could possibly have with being knowledgeable on ensuring vaccine safety and efficacy, moreover, its acquisition, and delivery? Palace Spokesperson Harry Roque might argue “you really need managerial skills and someone used to management processes” to justify Galvez’s appointment, but it is not rocket-science not to equate peace talks skills from his MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) negotiation days, to deals with pharmaceuticals.
These responses prioritize nothing more but Duterte’s allies and their interests, leaving the unarmed public to blame when things go south, demanding a government that relies on science.
“My military, my police.”
This obsession with coddling the police and military is a growing manifestation of anything but a macho leader President Duterte perceives and projects himself to be. The people have done their part. Now the government just needs to do theirs.
