The Manila Times

A tough balancing act and an unbalanced presidency

ANTONIO CONTRERAS

IAM not defending the failures of President Rodrigo Duterte. I cannot imagine myself going back to that phase where I would be apologizing for his government. Those days are over, and I have already apologized for that egregious mistake.

However, the challenges brought on by this pandemic would have trifled with and vexed even the most admired leaders in the world, from New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern to US President Joseph Biden.

This pandemic has revealed our vulnerabilities and has tested not only our resilience but also our limits for rational thinking.

People go out despite lockdowns because of the need to earn a living, because the cash assistance from government is not enough, and not simply because they are hardheaded or “pasaway.” Thus, those fortunate enough to have kept their jobs despite the pandemic are reminded by the woke generation to check their privileges.

However, this cannot be true all the time, considering that there are the so-called APORs, or authorized persons outside of residence, who are already allowed to leave their homes even during heightened levels of quarantine. And while there are people who really have to eke a living, particularly those in the underground economy, one cannot dispute that there are also those who do not belong to these categories who simply flout the rules.

The general sentiment among people is to insist that government should impose more controls on human behavior as long as their own freedom and rights are not restricted. They demand to contain the spread of the virus, even as there are countervailing pressures emanating not only from those who argue for their livelihoods but also from those who would like to minimize the disruption in their lives, from students who protest online learning to people who would insist on visiting relatives or go to Divisoria to buy cheap Christmas decorations and gifts.

When strict lockdowns are imposed, people are frustrated and demand that government should be more creative. But when these are downgraded, people protest against the seeming irresponsibility. For example, granular lockdowns, coupled with the downgrading of the quarantine status of the National Capital Region to GCQ, was severely criticized.

Indeed, it is easy to demean this seemingly idiotic move, until you realize that there is some sense in it if only we try get out of our biases and prejudices. A granular lockdown is the more scientific approach as it contains the virus within specific areas, where people will not be allowed to be mobile. Meanwhile, areas that do not have cases can operate in a more relaxed quarantine status, thereby enabling the economy and the sanity of the people.

In addition, cash assistance distribution can be optimized to benefit only those who are immobilized and confined within their homes inside areas where granular lockdowns are declared.

Unfortunately, many people seem to have lost trust in any government, and not only in this particular government. This is indeed fatal, as it turns them into cynics. The political base loyal to the Duterte government almost always defends it even when criticism is justified, to a point that they lose rationality as they engage in political idolatry. His critics are perennially seeing only flaws and are consumed by blind hatred. In this toxic polarization, the middle ground could have provided the anchor for some sanity, except that this too has become the haven for cynicism, bitterness and hopelessness.

The government, and the elites who run it across many presidents, deserve the loss of trust. Our health care system is so broken that it was only waiting for a pandemic of this magnitude for it to crack and unravel. The fault of the Duterte government is that instead of strengthening the healthcare system, and being true to his word of delivering change, he has focused instead on the convenient optics of projecting brutal strength against drug addicts, criminals and Duterte’s political enemies. And the tragic outcomes of these are now manifested in a flawed contact tracing and testing system, and of unhappy and overworked health care workers.

Indeed, the pandemic costs a lot. The economy is bleeding due to job losses and company closures, even as the demand for funds soar in the form of needs for cash assistance, and to procure vaccines and personal protective equipment. And this is precisely why in the eyes of many, the possibility that public funds were diverted to become unwarranted profits and kickbacks that benefit preferred companies at a time that the economy is hemorrhaging, and many people are starving, if not dying, is nothing but criminal.

It can be said that the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte has lost its sense of balance. Faced with the tough job of balancing health and the economy, he is instead fixated on bullying the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and the Commission on Audit (CoA). This is in obvious retaliation for the CoA’s flagging of irregularities in the fund management of his government’s anti-Covid effort. It is also a naked vindictiveness toward Sen. Richard Gordon, who is also chairman of the PRC, who is leading the Senate hearings that revealed possible culpable violations by some of his appointed officials, as well as his Chinese friends in their involvement in suspicious Covid-related transactions.

There is evidence of frayed nerves among Duterte’s men. Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd had a meltdown in the Senate when confronted with allegations of corruption in his department. Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. had a breakdown when he berated health care workers who were merely airing their concerns in the light of the government’s Covid-19 response.

Meanwhile, Duterte appears unhinged. He threatened that if people keep on finding fault with his government, he promised he will find problems with them, and he will start with Gordon. This is not an action that speaks well for the president of a democratic Republic. He sounded at best like a petulant child, and at worst like a vindictive bully.

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2021-09-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281487869483251

The Manila Times