By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

WE decided on the unprecedented high number of COVID-19 deaths in one day in Dagupan City as The PUNCH’s headline this week if only to make our communities realize the deadly consequences of irresponsibility and serious lack of discipline in our midst.

It’s not our intent to blame and discriminate against the victims of infection, precisely because they are the victims, not the cause of the infection.

It’s time our communities and their local officials realize that the worst is yet to happen if we don’t straighten up and reform ourselves in responding to the “New Normal” today and post pandemic.

Know that the “New Normal” is not about counting infections, recoveries and deaths. It’s not about casual wearing of face masks. It’s not about weird seating arrangements in restaurants and bars. It’s not about curfews. It’s not about virtual chats or Zoom meetings. It’s not about mass vaccination. It’s not about curfews and liquor ban.

“New Normal” is about the need for member of communities to be disciplined, to be law-abiding, to be results-oriented and to seek to be united in purpose as a community.

The “New Normal” that we speak of is, in fact, nothing new to our OFW kabaleyans who found themselves working overseas by necessity – because of our “Old Normal”.

It was, and has always been the “New Normal” for them out there in foreign host countries. And they, more than anyone else, know that to embrace the “New Normal” life is possible, if only our government would only lead the way in upholding and strictly enforcing laws and rules.

Our OFWs know that difference when they return to their hometowns. They revert to the “Old Normal” after living a “New Normal” in a foreign soil.

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ACTION AFTER THE BLAME GAME. Our communities should stop cursing the COVID-19 virus because like flu, dengue, malaria, TB, measles, chicken pox, small pox, etc. it will be with us forever, for as long as we breath air.

The only way we can survive and beat COVID is to accept and be aware that it is highly transmissible, even to vaccinated persons and that no amount of debate about efficacy of vaccines can help for as long as we ignore the very basic information about the disease and the established processes to avoid being infected.

If you need someone, something, to blame, let’s blame our culture and ourselves for getting in the way enforcement of laws and rules, how our culture made everyone (the affluent and the impoverished) feel entitled to exemptions and make no one accountable.  

Blame our city/town leaders and the police who didn’t give a hoot about strict enforcement and imposition of penalties. They failed to see to the efficiency of contact-tracers and effectiveness of continued mass testing, the value and importance of training and the impact of proper compensation and support for frontliners. They did not shun politics when providing basic services and distributing fund amelioration funds.   

After we’re done with this blame game, we need to start acting, on solutions.  We are way past talking about solutions.  If we don’t, we will only have ourselves to blame for the far more serious and deadly consequences that will surely happen within weeks.

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LOCAL CHECKPOINTS’ MISSION. Last week, our reporter Eva Visperas took to her Facebook account to point out the ludicrousness of the operation of the Dagupan-Binmaley boundary checkpoint that results in daily gridlock in that area.

It is in that checkpoint where police-POSO personnel zealously inquire into the reasons of motorists to enter the city, compliance with S-Pass requirement of motorists, etc.

Perhaps, the idea to operate the checkpoint with such zealousness by the border personnel via the set of inquiries asked of motorists is to beat boredom in their posts but at the expense of motorists’ convenience.

The checkpoint personnel delight in impressing motorists that they are doing their job with questions: “Saan po kayo galing… ano purpose nyo… nag register ba kayo sa S-Pass?”  Yet, through all that,  they are not authorized to obstruct and prevent entry of the motorists if the responses are not to their liking.

These are innocuous questions whose flimsy responses don’t need validation as data. The responses are not recorded so it’s all a waste of time and effort… and a lot of inconvenience to motorists who have all the legitimate reasons to enter the city.

The city is not in a war situation like Marawi City was in. The checkpoint today is there to help enforce basic health protocols and the best – and only way – the checkpoints can help is not to extract meaningless information but to make sure that ALL PERSONS ENTERING THE CITY HAVE FACE MASKS AND ARE WEARING THEM. Period.

Dagupan Police chief P/LTC Benjie Tremor should give border checkpoint personnel a reorientation on the main purpose of pandemic checkpoints – to check compliance with health protocols, not to interrogate motorists on their purposes for entering the city.

In fact, this should be primary the mission for ALL checkpoints entering a town or city in Pangasinan.  Ironically, what’s happening in checkpoints in most if not all towns/cities is quite the opposite of what’s happening at the Barangay Lucao checkpoint – no one asks questions, most personnel are comfortably seated, busy looking at their mobile phones.  The only busy personnel are those in the motorcycle lane -checking identification of riders and ownership documents, not about the pandemic.

PAGING PANGASINAN POLICE PROVINCIAL OFFICE: NO LOCAL CHECKPOINT IS  CHECKING COMPLIANCE  WITH  FACE MASKS PROTOCOL!

This way, not even APOR, particularly crew of construction, food and essential deliveries, the most obvious suspects as super spreaders, are not exempted.

If the local checkpoints want an added mission, they can distribute information in a small paper (provided by the LGU) indicating (not to verbally explain) penalties for violating local ordinances vis-à-vis health and distancing protocols, to help ensure strict compliance.

Checking qualifications of travelers to enter Pangasinan is the main mission of provincial border checkpoints, not intra-town/city borders.

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POOR MR. TUGADE. The attempt of the DOTr -LTO to surreptitiously resume the implementation of the Private Motor Vehicles Inspection Center law is reprehensible if not completely deceitful on its part.  

There was no official announcement made in media about it but LTO simply quietly imposed it on motorists urgently needing to renew registration of their vehicles, believing the pandemic would make people helpless to protest and complain.  

For this insidious attempt, DOTr Sec. Art Tugade will be paying highly for it in 2022 elections when he seeks a mandate to serve as a senator all because he has subordinates who have a separate agenda than public service. I seriously doubt if he will be on the list of motorists when they go to their polling centers.  

The implementation of PMVIC was suspended in February in consideration of the financial hardships suffered by the populace because of the COVID pandemic.  A mere memorandum was issued in July for its resumption while the country was fazed by worsening pandemic.  

Fortunately, the inconvenience and complaints of motorists required to travel to locations of limited authorized PVMIC centers sounded the alarm and stopped the attempt.   

Unfortunately for Mr. Tugade, it will be he, not his subordinates, that will pay dearly for this attempt to blindside motorists.

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