I spoke with my brother on the phone the other day. I periodically call him about how he is doing in Manila, and if there was anything happening there that I may not have seen in the news. Less than an hour after we spoke, he sent me a message with an attachment: “…sent lockdown.pdf…a short book published by my friend…”
I downloaded the file onto my cellphone, hoping to save it to my nook account for easy reading anywhere, across all my devices; and found an impressive cover photo of a prison cell block, and the words LOCKED DOWN in riveted iron plates superimposed on it. I thought it might have been a book about life in prison as researched by the author, as the title suggests. Or it might have been something about POWs in WWII. It is the kind of cover that, in my opinion, makes you want to read the book. Good choice of photo there by the author.
The book, which I jokingly called a ‘user manual’ in a later phone conversation with the author, is an interesting write. It discusses a lot of things that we don’t normally think about, much less practice. I take it as the author’s sincere suggestions of the things that we could do during a lockdown. It even has suggestions on creating artful pieces that could be made from discarded things around the house that would otherwise end up in the trash. I finished reading all 30 pages in a few minutes, finally coming up for some air and a fresh new expectation of what the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) would bring after it was implemented Friday, the third of April.
I now feel like one of the fortunate ones among the hundreds of thousands of people whose movement would be controlled as a result of the ECQ, because I am a writer. I would simply think of the ECQ as a great opportunity to write, and maybe continue projects that have been put on the backburner. Or, I could choose to write about my experience during the ECQ.
It is a refreshing read, a book I’d open again for suggestions in case I had some junk laying around that needed a new purpose. I think it would bring out the creativeness in all who reads it, as well as allow them to beat the boredom and monotony of going through the same drill every day. As I endure this ECQ, I’ll have Locked Down close by, just in case. There is a smorgasbord of things that are just waiting to be done around the house. I can take my time doing them, or I can hurry through them and be done. I think I’d take my time. Afterall, I’ve things to write.
It is now 10:18 pm, Thursday, April 2, 2020. Earlier today, we were supposed to get our Quarantine Pass from our purok chairman. They were supposed to go house-to-house to deliver them, according to the hazy information that we, the public, get from City Hall. I paid the Barangay Captain a visit just three days ago, and he said the whole thing is a job-an-a-half, especially that they don’t have that many people to help with the distribution. I asked if they had volunteers who may be able to help, and was told they are not taking volunteers for fear that they may politicize the effort.
The Kapitan, a friend of mine, is a good man. And it’s just sad he feels that to do things right means he has to be shorthanded.
So I just stopped waiting because I don’t think they’d still come at this late hour. I should have believed another friend who told me late this afternoon that the Barangay has not received the passes yet because the City was still printing and laminating them.
I thought that was ridiculous, but who’s right now?
So we’ll probably get it Friday when the ECQ will have been in place . In my opinion, the City officials have already given the people too many excuses that if they gave any more, their noses would bleed. Plain and simple, this whole affair can be summed up in one word–incompetence. I think there’s too much worry about who’s going to get the credit; who’s going to be in that defining photograph; whose name the people will remember. Disgusting!
Do the authorities ever have sound strategies on how to do some things? For instance, I would think that with all their experience in conducting checkpoints, they would, by now, know how to expeditiously do it.
Thursday, being our last day of freedom together, my wife and I drove to Bacong to buy fish and vegetables. Before we got to the City limit, the traffic started to come to a slow crawl. I didn’t know yet it was the line between Dumaguete and Bacong and I couldn’t see what was slowing us down. Then there were some young men in something like hazmat suits coming down the line, spraying vehicle tires with disinfectant. I asked one of them, “Is this what’s slowing us down?” He shook his head and said, “No, sir, there’s a checkpoint up ahead, and they’re scanning everyone.”
So that’s what it was, and there I was, thinking there might have been a terrible accident up ahead. A Ceres bus was about four cars ahead of us, and I thought, jeez, this thing could take forever. Then suddenly, the line started to move faster. As we got by their checkpoint, I saw they’d stopped checking. Maybe it was merienda time. I felt cheated.
I placed my scanner back in the door pocket. I carry my own scanner so I can scan those who scan me. So far, everywhere I’ve been to with my scanner, they’ve been nice to let me scan them back. They understand, that if you have a scanner at all, why not scan those around you, right? One can never be too careful.
Oh my, I forgot that I did not finish the message my brother sent me above. The rest of it said, “…Gemma Iso, your co-writer on the paper you write for…thought you might be interested…” Well, this was another reason I just had to call Gemma–I had not seen her column in this paper. Could I have just missed it–every single week? I looked through the pile of papers that I keep. I checked and double-checked. She wasn’t in any of them. When I finally spoke with her on the phone, I asked her about that, and she told me she did have a column before. She said she stopped just before I started this column. Saying that, she reassured me that my eyes were still good. Gemma wrote a nice one in Locked Down, and I kinda like the way she writes. She told me she’s writing another book. I look forward to reading that as well. And I haven’t even met her in person yet.
With ECQ starting April 3, I hope that people will heed the call. I hope that the messages that we’ve all been smothered with, will seep through our minds. I hope that those who rely on daily movements to earn their keep were able to put together sustenance that will keep them for at least two weeks before they must worry again. There are those who really need help because the best they can do is not enough. If you can help at all, let it be help that’s tangible. Whereas, prayer relieves our anxiety, it doesn’t relieve the hunger and pain that people feel this very moment. Everyone is free to give anyone in need, so please help the less fortunate, if you can.
This is one of the most dreadful times in human history. But no matter what devastation CoViD-19 will bring upon us, it will pass, and it will be just another one in a long list unwelcome memories. If the way it is now is a battle we can endure, then we may just win the war.
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Author’s email: [email protected]