Give me liberty or give me death

Give me liberty or give me death

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Since February, or even earlier, social media has been preoccupied with the pandemic caused by CoViD-19. The posts have varied, but they have all been related to the pandemic. A category of posts would cover updates on infections, casualties and recoveries. This set also includes announcements of government initiatives, mandates and actions. The updates and reports involve both local, national and global developments.

Another type includes FYIs and DIYs. Facts about COVID19, its origins, what is known and understood about it so far, and everyone’s recipe of home brews and natural fixes to protect, or even treat, ourselves in the event of a CoViD-19 visitation.

Then there are the inspirational stories, human interest stories on sacrifice and the victorious accounts of those who survived CoViD-19, the scripture quotes and prayers for protection and healing, and the appreciative messages of thanks for the pandemic health care front liners and the ECQ guardians.

Finally, there are the posts warning or scolding the violators of ECQ or the non-compliers of social distancing. Today, I will focus on this final category of pandemic posts.

To be sure, the chiding, warning and scolding emanate from the government or well-meaning and concerned citizens who are serious about fighting and winning the war on CoViD1-19.

To win the war, we must minimize the viral contagion. Minimizing close contact and transmission of the disease is achieved though hygienic practices and observing social distance. Faithfully observing these practices will result in flattening the curve of contamination. The persons to whom these warning and scolding are addressed, belong to either of two groups.

The first group is made up of the buluyagon or the gahi’g ulo. They either don’t understand and appreciate the enormity of the problem we collectively face, or they choose disobedience over cooperation for a variety of reasons.

To some, it’s an attitude of “CoViD-19 won’t catch me”. Or they simply don’t care for themselves or anyone else.

Behavior from this attitude resulted in a 35-year-old Korean resident recklessly ramming the Valencia-Dumaguete ECQ checkpoint last Wednesday resulting in the death of one person, injury to several others, and damage to several vehicles lining up at the checkpoint. This Korean was extremely drunk when apprehended by the Police. He had been on a drinking spree with several other Korean friends in Valencia. This Korean and his friends just wanted to have a good time and enjoy themselves. They didn’t care about the rules, and they certainly didn’t care about CoViD- 19.

Choosing the liberty to enjoy themselves, they brought death upon the innocent and unsuspecting!

The second group adheres to the Constitutional protection of their right to liberty. To them no restrictions can be imposed on their right to association or to peaceably assemble, or to worship or their right to movement.

Thus, a quarantine, or a restriction on movement through Quarantine Passes or checkpoints or curfews or even the closure of stores are an infringement on their constitutional rights. These persons adhere to the philosophy of Gov. Patrick Henry of Virginia, in his speech to the Second Virginia Convention in 1775. In that memorialized oration, Governor Henry famously declared: “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

For these fierce human rights champions among us, the cause of liberty is worth the cost of one’s life. In defense of our democratic ideals, such commitment is worthy of deep admiration. Under ordinary circumstances, it is both heroic and patriotic.

Ironically, however, the insistence on placing one’s liberty above the interests of the whole will actually result in death. Not their libertarian martyr’s death, but the pandemic death of a vulnerable and defenseless sector of the community. Far from being a heroic act, the stubborn insistence on one’s human rights imposes a death sentence on someone else, or more of them.

This is the dilemma of our leaders in a crisis. There is the delicate balancing of interests for the sake of the public good.

To be sure, not everything that the local leadership has decided on and designed has worked. Over two weeks into the City’s ECQ, the Quarantine Pass system still leaves a substantial number of the population inconvenienced and dissatisfied.

In an attempt to refine the QP system, the City is coming out with a new color-coding scheme. The City will be issuing a Red pass for MWF, and a Purple pass for T-Th-S. No passes will be issued for Sundays.

This time, the pass will be good from 7 am to 6 pm, instead of a six-hour window.

The existing Red, Blue and Black Passes will not be honored anymore.

The Yellow pass will also not be honored as pass for market, pharmacy, etc., but will only be valid as a checkpoint pass to serve its original intention of being for employment use only.

In addition, there will “disposable” day passes which residents may obtain from the Barangay Chairman.

The Daily Pass seems superfluous, considering that all 30 Barangay Chairmen had recently unanimously passed a Resolution declaring the system sufficient, and that No Additional QPs Needed to be Issued.

Apparently, this Resolution was a “political” support to the City’s insistence on the effectiveness of its QP system.

Less than a week later, Daily Passes are now necessary, and will now be available “as needed” (i.e., If you have a Red Pass and have to go out on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday!) How strange this system works!

Thankfully, the public grumblings about the limited and shared QPs may die down very soon. Thanks to the City’s initiative, satellite and mobile markets are being established in the barangays. This will ease the inconvenience of residents leaving the barangay to go to the public market or supermarkets for their food requirements.

Aside from the QP issue, the authorities need to get their act together in operating the checkpoints.

Last Monday, someone from Dauin needed to pick up a package from LBC. The queue for vehicles bordering Bacong and Dumaguete was very long. After waiting two hours she turned back. She asked, “What is happening out there?”

Attention to our ECQ enforcers. You would think that after two weeks of manning the checkpoints, the system should now be perfected. Massing and crowding of persons should already be avoided so the LGU doesn’t violate its own social distancing rules and promote CoViD-19 contamination. Just because DOH Region 7 reports that no new cases have been reported in Dumaguete for the last three weeks doesn’t mean we should let our guard down, especially those imposing the ECQ.

Otherwise, if we can’t set the example, the ECQ should be lifted immediately.

No offense to our medical heroes and the CoViD-19 Task Force. Simply that if we “heal as one”, we should also “act with discipline as one”.

It’s bad enough that the scarcity of quarantine passes has caused so much difficulty for residents.

Even worse that despite the assurances of national leadership, certain barangays in this Province still have not distributed the Social Amelioration Benefits. Or that the DSWD has not provided Social Amelioration Cards for every single household (the cards are for the survey on needs).

And in some cases, the three-can sardine allocation shrunk to one, and the five-kilo rice subsidy was reduced to three!

While our fellowmen go hungry, the heartless implementors are exploiting their misfortune.

Didn’t we just celebrate Easter? Whatever happened to Christ’s message of loving your fellowmen and serving the least of our brethren? I guess we’re not just undisciplined, we’re also blind and deaf to the demands of the general welfare and the public good.

“But as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

What shall it be? The liberty to let others die at our expense, or the liberty to protect and preserve life for the good of all?

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Author’s email: [email protected]

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