"There will never be another quite like this."
"There will never be another quite like this."
The stay-at-home restriction under the Enhanced Community Quarantine may be hard to take in for some people, especially the young who are used to going out. This time of the year, people go to beaches and other vacation places.
For my wife and me, this stay-at-home order is a blessing at our age.
In staying home, we are actually saving a lot of money. We no longer go to our favorite restaurant. We don’t go strolling in the mall buying things we don’t need. In fact, we are giving away our things now.
By staying home, we are able to do the things we have always wanted to do but have failed to do so for one reason or another. I read a lot, and my wife is fixing her memorabilia from school and our early married life.
We will mark our 65th wedding anniversary on May 14. But since we will still be under ECQ on that day, our problem is solved. No expenses, no relatives and friends to invite. Our main problem is whom to invite since many of our friends are either sick or have gone ahead of us.
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The sad thing about the lockdown and all the restrictions is that our usual Saturday get together for the 365 Club is on hold.
The 365 Club is a gathering of people of various political persuasions. We are composed of professionals, current and former government officials, businessmen and journalists.
Here is how we started in 1972, just upon the declaration of martial law. It was after I went to look at the defunct Channel 9 station along Roxas Boulevard, on my way home to Quezon City, that I decided to have coffee at Hotel Intercon.
I saw Makati Mayor Nemesio Yabut, noted columnist Doroy Valencia, businessman Pat Dayrit and BIR official Joe Viterbo seated in the coffee shop.
I asked them what was happening, and Yabut told me that since martial law had been proclaimed, he expected to be picked up by the military. A couple of weeks earlier, Yabut was implicated in the killing of a labor leader. “This is why ka Doroy is here, as my insurance,” he said. Valencia was known to be close to Marcos.
At this point, Valencia told me that all media people who would become jobless as a result of martial law can take their breakfast at Intercon, all at the expense of Mayor Yabut.
And indeed, media people came and took their breakfast, and even stayed on to have lunch and breakfast with their families. After a month or so, Yabut said his city treasurer was already complaining about the expenses. It was at this point when Valencia issued his “Proclamation 1082—everybody had to spring for his own meal.
You would not believe it, but even the stalwarts of the Marcos administration were there—Deputy Prime Minister Jose Rono, Immigration Commissioner Edmundo Reyes, SSS Administrator Gilberto Teodoro, Airport Manager Louie Tabuen and even Kokoy Romualdez, despite all the jokes and criticism against Marcos.
I commend the late Romualdez who was there almost every day, dressed in white—down to his shoes. This was why we called him “Puti.” He was always game. Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople and Press Secretary Jose Aspiras were also there.
At one time, the Wall Street Journal had a front-page article on the 365 Club, which it described as a first and unique club with people of different persuasions just airing their views.
Some people told me to have the club incorporated, but I did not. There were journalists arrested during martial law—Max Soliven, Louie Beltran, Art Borjal. There were judges and justices. There was nationalist Renato Constantino and former PLDT publicist Toto Oliveros.
When Valencia died in 1976, I took over as chairman of the club. We started meeting only once a week—on Saturdays until Hotel Intercon was demolished by the Ayalas.
I am sad because I don’t think we will ever meet again as a group after this pandemic. I must say that for 48 years, the 365 Club observed its purpose until newsmen like Manila Times owner Dante Ang and Manila Bulletin editor-in-chief Jun Icban started to absent themselves. The only journalists left were Andy del Rosario, who passed on last year, and former Senate President Johnny Ponce Enrile.
There will never be a group like the 365 Club.
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The mauling of a fish vendor in Quezon City for the sin of not wearing a face mask shows how some overzealous policemen can go overboard.
Local government units and all those implementing the ECQ should be told that when some people violate those restrictions, they should not be treated as criminals. We are in the middle of a health emergency, not a peace and order one.
Violators of the restrictions should be given some leeway. That fish vendor, for instance, simply wanted to earn a living.
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It’s a good thing that we are focusing on rebuilding the economy after this pandemic. I have my full trust in Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez and newly appointed Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua.
The world is in a recession, and so is the Philippines. At least I am sure that we are in good hands, economically.