Sunday, April 2, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Columns Everyman

One small thing

Joel VegabyJoel Vega
March 23, 2021, 12:10 am
in Everyman
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

One small thing"A wily style of governance."

 

“Maliit na bagay” was how President Rodrigo Duterte recently described the pandemic caused by COVID-19, the same health issue that led to governments across the globe closing their borders, businesses shutting down, hospitals revamping their routine services, medical scientists scratching their heads, and worse, thousands dying without their loved ones by their side.

By this time, we all know that Duterte has little emphatic qualities. I would translate that in the vernacular, “walang malasakit.” Of course, his sycophants will deny that – but let them be trapped in their polluted bubble. Some leadership issues may not necessarily allow leaders to satisfy every wish of Juan and Juana, but possessing empathy or the ability to discern and truly identify with the concerns of your citizenry will vastly improve the stewardship of a country.

But the dismissive remark of Duterte right at this time when COVID in our country is grinding its gears to the next high level is reflective of his wily style. It is his attempt to smokescreen the pathetic failure by his administration to effectively address a serious health crisis that is still unfolding, and deal honestly with an existential threat.

Let us look at the facts. First, in the early stage of the pandemic, he dismissively brushed aside COVID as merely like the flu, one that will pass with a single sneeze. Our borders were not promptly locked but instead, there was the continued flow of traffic from the very continent where the flu originated. That dismissal is characteristic of the strong-arm personas displayed by his equally boastful contemporaries such as Trump, Bolsonaro, and other leaders who can only rely on machismo, swagger, and more swagger. But look what has happened to the US and Brazil, particularly when it comes to COVID deaths. These two countries ranked in the top five in terms of deaths and contamination spread, and most likely spurred by a populace who failed to appreciate the impact of a still-lingering pandemic.

ADVERTISEMENT

What COVID-19 has ironically brought to light are precisely the healthcare issues that Duterte has neglected to address. Let us give him some leeway by saying that previous administrations have failed to rehabilitate an already inefficient healthcare system. But that is no excuse if one can goad a populace to run rampant against drug abuse. On top of that, we have the curse of the PhilHealth scandal, the dubious appointment of retired military officers as crisis health managers, and the panicky directives that aim and shoot but still fail to hit the big targets. Unlike his Drug War where the targets are felled bull’s eye after the so-called resistance or ‘nanlaban,’ his COVID war is aiming at holes above our heads. 

Wily. A wily style of governance. Words from this Fist Bump government serve to divert (Senator Leila De Lima), suppress (former Supreme Court chief justice Sereno), demonize (drug users), persecute (ABS-CBN), discredit (Maria Ressa), deflect, and deny.

We, taxpayers and good-willing citizens of this country say to all these barrages of words— enough of the barefaced deceit. We could not afford to see activists liquidated by terror bullets, or our friends and loved ones carried and hauled away to their solitary deaths just because one man and his small-minded coterie have mandated that the activist is a terrorist and that the deadly virus is “one small thing.”

If there is one small thing, that is the ugly truth that while we are neck-deep and amid a health crisis, we have a government that looks askance and with cynicism at our health concerns. That cynicism has been cleverly manipulated by Malacanang to deflect the calls for it to assume full responsibility and account for the failure that has hounded all of us since the start of the pandemic.

Joel Vega is a freelance publications editor and author of the award-winning poetry collection “Drift” published by the UST Publishing House. He lives in Arnhem, The Netherlands. 

Tags: COVID-19health crisisLeila de LimaPhilHealthRodrigo Duterte
ADVERTISEMENT
Joel Vega

Joel Vega

Related Posts

The resurgence of medical cannabis

byGem Marq Mutia, MD
April 1, 2023, 12:05 am
0
8
RSA: Mr. Malasakit, the environmentalist

"Cannabis is moving out of the drug dens back into the drug stores and medicine cabinets" Cannabis, or more commonly...

Read more

‘Sovereign rights over WPS exclusively belong to PH’

byAmbassador Albert Del Rosario
March 27, 2023, 12:20 am
0
8
RSA: Mr. Malasakit, the environmentalist

The 2016 Arbitral Award ruled that the sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea exclusively belong to the Philippines. Thus,...

Read more

Curious cases in the PNP

byThor Cuatro
March 25, 2023, 12:00 am
0
8
RSA: Mr. Malasakit, the environmentalist

"Stranger still is the controversy involving a bemedaled officer and the No. 2 man in the PNP hierarchy." Strange things...

Read more

Commitment to the legal system

byAmbassador Albert Del Rosario
March 22, 2023, 12:05 am
0
8
RSA: Mr. Malasakit, the environmentalist

"At this somewhat late stage in our life, we shall remain steadfast in our commitment to the Rule of Law...

Read more

Cha-cha and the need for a comprehensive approach

byGian Paolo S. Ines
March 20, 2023, 12:05 am
0
8
RSA: Mr. Malasakit, the environmentalist

"We cannot take account of everything that lies ahead in the process of and even after we have improved our...

Read more

Them lazy newshounds before the New Media Age

byNonnie Pelayo
March 18, 2023, 12:00 am
0
8
RSA: Mr. Malasakit, the environmentalist

"‘Fake news’ is the new name for ‘kuryente.’" It was during a “dry” day in 1986 when a damn all...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Sneakers for Makati : AB4.0
  • PH to meet EU standards on seafarers
  • NAIA passenger surge to hit 1.2m during long Holy Week holiday
  • Teves not returning home until wish list is met—lawyer
  • Majority of Pinoys back Maharlika Fund—survey
  • 2 Fil-Am soldiers, 7 others die in chopper crashes in Kentucky
  • BI to stop using departure forms under expanded eTravel scheme
  • Nemenzo is endorsed as UP chancellor

Advertisement

Latest News

2 Fil-Am soldiers, 7 others die in chopper crashes in Kentucky

byAFP
April 2, 2023, 1:00 am
0
8
Vax wastage, infection surge feared in Odette-hit areas

Nine American Army soldiers, among them two of Filipino descent, were reported killed on Wednesday in helicopter crashes that marred...

Read more

BI to stop using departure forms under expanded eTravel scheme

byVito Barcelo
April 2, 2023, 12:50 am
0
8
Koreans top list of fugitive aliens captured by BI

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will discontinue the use of paper-based departure cards starting May 1. In an advisory, BI...

Read more

Nemenzo is endorsed as UP chancellor

byManila Standard
April 2, 2023, 12:30 am
0
8
Road closed to give way for progress

Three members of the University of the Philippines (UP) board of regents have openly endorsed Dr. Fidel Nemenzo as chancellor...

Read more

Cops nab suspect in DLSU-Dasma coed’s murder

byManila Standard
April 2, 2023, 12:20 am
0
8
Vax wastage, infection surge feared in Odette-hit areas

Police have arrested the suspect in the March 28 killing of a 22-year-old graduating coed of the De La Salle...

Read more

MMDA traffic aide in extort racket falls

byJoel E. Zurbano
April 2, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
MMDA prepares for road closure

Police have arrested a traffic aide of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for alleged extortion in Port Area, Manila....

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App