Solidarity is our best defense
Many parents in Cebu right now are worried about their children going to school in an environment of uncertainty owing to the Red Alert Sublevel 2 declaration on the novel coronavirus. Most of our public school children, for example, take the passenger jeepney where the space is confined.
Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella may have the best intentions when he said he was not yet declaring a class suspension. But in so many words, the statement still fell short in reassuring worried parents. The mayor could have simply said that his office is monitoring the situation closely; that he would promptly order a class suspension when such need arises after consulting with health officials. That would have been enough (as of this writing, Mayor Labella has already declared a suspension of classes both in public and private schools in all levels in Cebu City from March 16 to March 28.)
No doubt our top local government officials are working hard to make Cebu safe amid the threat of COVID-19; that surely a crisis is no time for fault-finding or politicking. But a crisis also exposes some structural and other inadequacies in governance and our public health system. And an anxious public would have to bring them up.
A friend of mine who is occupying a leadership position in an institution lamented in private about the timing of this crisis. This comes at a time when he has to be the one to make the difficult decisions and be held accountable for it.
Easy to say for me, but anyway I told him that this is our time and we need to step up to the plate. Our grandparents’ generation experienced World War II. Our generation, the one between the baby boomers and the millennials, now have to deal with the catastrophic effects of climate change and infectious disease outbreaks. We have our elder parents to take care of in any eventuality, and our young children to protect at all times.
If there is any fear or apprehension in our households, at least it’s not a paralyzing kind of fear. It’s the kind that leads to heightened awareness; the kind that drives us to act and be decisive, to focus and concentrate on the threat, and to prepare and plan. I'd rather that my family and friends are on their toes than go on with their lives hoping for a false sense of normalcy.
The novel coronavirus that causes the disease now called COVID-19 hit us without any prior warning. Or if there were early warnings for places outside of China, these failed to break through our natural tendency to deny the reality of a potentially grave situation.
Europe, particularly Italy, is now paying the price of not calling this crisis for what it is. Its death toll from the virus outbreak has surged past 1,000 with 15,113 cases as of yesterday. Globally, more than 4,613 people have died and over 126,000 have been infected, according to the WHO.
Asian countries like Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea have shown us what to do to defeat this crisis or at least put it under control. But for countries with limited resources like the Philippines, solidarity is the key to defeating the threat of COVID-19.
“Solidarity can be defined as a strong union or fellowship between members of a group with common responsibilities and interest. It may entail sacrificing personal interest for the good of the community, and it requires the willingness to complement others in the community by fulfilling roles and responsibilities not normally one’s own (Wojtyla, 1979).”
It means looking after the interest of one another, especially the poor people and the working class who will be most hit hard by this crisis. In an influenza pandemic, we are only as strong as our weakest link. It makes no sense therefore to corner all the rubbing alcohol and basic goods at the grocery, leaving nothing to others.
Solidarity is not new to us. I’m old enough to witness Cebu when super typhoon Ruping hit the island in 1990. Rich and poor lined up to fetch water at the communal well. Neighbors checked if you were able to buy bread as supplies were dwindling, and shared theirs.
This pandemic now is the kind of crisis that will test our individual and broader social values. It is the kind of crisis that requires a social response. Let’s step up to the plate.
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