By Monsi A. Serrano
Already, the pandemic has created a host of problems that no attempt of solving can be completely remedied without first holding off the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It has become a vicious push-and-pull situation that has kept government at a seeming standstill in its efforts to solve economic turmoil with left hook and beat the health crisis with a right uppercut.
Apart from enforcing “new normal”policies, government’s greatest struggle is obviously striking the perfect balance between lives and livelihood. Sadly, some of the supposed best and brightest in public policy add up to this administration’s existing problems. May I remind you, Mr. President, that the public who endures most the hardships of these times can wear down, but never be blind.
Middle of last year, DILG Secretary Eduado Año and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, or IATF for short, did not allow back-riding on motorcycles, except for husbands and wives, common-law couples, and live-in partners. Back then, only Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APOR) were traveling — mostly for work; the movers of the economy. Yet, workers — the little of them left — who had no other option to reach their workplaces but through motorbike-taxis were forced to get off the road and walk. Then, Angkas drivers were forced to buy plastic shield apparatus under a “no protective barrier, no travel” policy.
New case in point is the proposed enforcement of a seat booster for the 12 years old and below who are not taller than 4’11”. The son of Albert Einstein (pun intended!), LTO-National Capital Region Director Attorney Clarence Guinto, advised parents with tall children to “get bigger cars” in order to comply with the new car seat law. When he was bashed, he said it was a joke. But for those who watched the interview over DZMM TeleRadyo, when radio program host, Amy Perez told Atty. Guinto that his suggestion is not workable because others don’t have the means to buy a bigger car, the lawyer said, he would “take into consideration this concern.” Meaning that the suggestion to get a bigger car was not said in jest, because if it were, he would have answered, “I am just joking.”
Another problem-maker instead of solution provider is the author of the Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act, former Senator JV Ejercito (Thank heaven, he did not win as there are already many comedians in the Senate). Anyway, “the son of Johannes Kepler” made a brilliant suggestion for those who are riding a taxi or TNVS to comply with his pet law by bringing your own child car seat! Perhaps, Atty. Guinto and former Senator JV are related to each other by frame of thought or slapstick comedy.
But wait, it doesn’t end there. The latest from the IATF is the requirement for everyone to wear face masks inside vehicles even if they are from the same household. Violators would be fined the same amount of penalty for “reckless driving.” This brings us back to the genius of IATF officials, who might also be related to Atty. Guinto and ex-senator JV, wouldn’t you think?
Indeed, it’s more fun in the Philippines when there are loads of jokes going around in the form of public officials who create problems when they are called upon by extraordinary times to find solutions that would unburden their bosses — we citizens who pay our taxes. Their jokes, however, lose their tickle so easily and are painfully biting to the general public. Can we fire these people in our employ? I sure hope so, ’cause there are a lot of brilliant minds out there who’ve lost their jobs due to the recession and can contribute real solutions to our problems than distractions in the form of wacky, witless entertainment.
Truly, Eldridge Cleaver is right when he said, “You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.”