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OPINION
OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2020 VOLUME LXXIX
editorial IS THERE A VACCINE FOR INCOMPETENCE?
cartoon by RHEYMAR CHUA
TOLENTINESTAR T H E O F F I C I A L S T U D E N T P U B L I C AT I O N O F U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E G R O S O C C I D E N TA L - R E C O L E TO S
Since 1947
EDITORIAL BOARD AY 2020-2021
Romchelle Chris Danielle Waminal Editor-in-Chief Cristopher Villaruel Associate Editor Jusalanne Matulac Managing Editor DESK EDITORS Crisha Arroyo News and Sports Editor
Leslie Marie Banaban Literary Editor
Carla Joanne Robles Feature Editor
Krisha Marie Semellano Opinion Editor
TECHNICAL EDITORS Joelle Mariel Paderog Multimedia Editor
Renee Suala Multimedia Associate
Alea Jen Villahermosa Online Content Manager
WRITERS
VIDEOJOURNALIST
Trisha Shyne Cabanillas
Reinhardt Firmeza
PHOTOJOURNALIST
CARTOONISTS
Raeverly Elena Ramirez
Rheymar Chua Joshua Garita Carl Andro Vallejera LAYOUT ARTIST Karen Joy Tolosa
Kaye Eunice Lamera, RSW Human Resource
Alyssa Marie Arceño Technical Consultant
Engr. Ashraf Khater, ChE, MEnE Technical Adviser
NEWS FLASH. We are at the end of the year but things haven’t really gotten better. Nine months into this endeavor and yet Filipinos find themselves stuck in the same predicament that has haunted us since the start of the pandemic, inaction, and complacency from our leaders. As every world leader is taking steps in ensuring the safety of his or her citizens given the current situation, Filipinos are constantly met with haphazard and draconian solutions to the pressing calls of health-centric policies. President Rodrigo Duterte drew flak for the late responses against the pandemic despite his call for the people to put their trust in the government in quelling the virus transmission nearly two weeks after the first confirmed novel coronavirus case in the Philippines. However, it was not just the last-minute lockdown implementation that triggered the flak but also when President Duterte downplayed the threat of COVID-19 by saying “everything is well in the country” and there is “nothing to be scared of that coronavirus thing” in a Feb. 3 media briefing two days after the first novel coronavirus-related death in the country. Through the months, COVID-19 cases have been skyrocketing despite President Duterte’s assurance that the government is on top of things. In the middle of the world’s longest lockdown and at the height of coronavirus cases, the Filipinos were met with the draconian Anti-Terrorism Law, “shoot them dead” threats from the President himself, declining calls for mass testing while having the controversial VIP testing of politicians, even got called pasaway by the Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque at the height of the COVID-19 cases in April when in fact, data from tech giant Google LLC showed that there was a 90 percent drop of Filipinos visiting retail stores as compared to the numbers recorded pre-pandemic. With the promise of a vaccine, this still does not serve as a silver bullet to combat the rotten political system that affects not only the health system but all facets of this society. On Dec. 16, Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III missed securing 10 million doses of vaccines from Pfizer as early as January 2021 due to an amiss in documents. As Sen. Francis Pangilinan stressed, this botched deal puts millions of Filipino lives on the line.However, despite the availability of vaccines in the market, we still must not forget the lapses the administration shown in dealing with the pandemic in the country that caused mass employment lay-offs, the romanticization of the sacrifices of frontliners, the general power tripping, to top the already existing extrajudicial killings and other human rights issues surrounding the current administration. Tolentine Star stands with the masses in holding the national government accountable. This is the time to prioritize the people and not lash out at those who call out their haphazard and muddled plans amidst a time of hunger and desperation. We call for a government that sees the ordinary Filipino not as numbers on a chart but as human beings endowed with dignity and worthy of respect, not collateral damage to whatever powerplay is happening behind the curtains. We demand that goverment implement inclusive policies that would seek to solve not only the health crisis but tackle the potluck of problems in the country. Let us never forget the atrocities of the current administration at the height of the health crisis by paying no heed to the call for mass testing and the general downplaying of the pandemic. In this, we must press on and continue to speak against injustices and tell the stories of the victims of an incompetent administration. With this, we hope that, in due time, hopefully not that long, the skies will get clearer and we’ll get through this.
To l e n t i n e S t a r i s t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e g r o s O c c i d e n t a l - R e c o l e t o s
