Like a Porridge

By: Prences Jhewen O. Albis

Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, the implementation of Enhanced Community Quarantine
(ECQ) in the Greater Manila Area (Bulacan, National Capital Region, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna)
was reinstated. However, even with the government's experience with ECQ, it is irritating that
even a simple porridge is still debated whether it is ‘essential’ or ‘non-essential. This incident
reflects a sad reality: in terms of consistency, the government's pandemic response, planning, and
management are as thin as porridge.

Last March 30, barangay officers charged a GrabFood delivery rider and the owner of a lugawan
in Bulacan because it was still open despite the curfew. When the rider explained that the ECQ
guidelines allow food deliveries during the curfew, the officer seemed to explain his superficial
reasons by insisting that it is not essential or important, and that people may live without it.
Disappointingly, just because of the misinterpretation of the guidelines, the barangay officer even
caused trouble and chaos. It is discouraging that officers have not memorized the intricacies of
quarantine protocols. This is just a proof that the government implementations for the pandemic
are imprecise and messy, hence it will not help to resolve the public health crisis.

The worst scenario here is that Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III of the Department of
Interior and Local Government (DILG) turned the porridge delivery incident into a political issue.
According to Densing, the barangay officer did the right thing because he addressed porridge as a
person rather than a food, implying that porridge is unimportant in the eyes of DILG ––
particularly to Vice President Leni Robredo, who is known for giving porridge to the poor.
Despite the raging pandemic, it is very unethical that Densing focused more on making sarcastic
comments instead of taking responsibility for the mistakes of the barangay under their
supervision. It can be noticed that he is not serious about strengthening the ECQ because he was
still able to joke against Robredo. Conflicts and childishness will not help in suppressing COVID-
19.

On the other hand, other officials, such as Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla, also admitted that
they are already confused by the Inter-agency Task Force's (IATF) changing decision and
announcement on ECQ guidelines. Remulla's description in the ECQ as "Enhanced Confusion
Quarantine" is very appropriate because it is obvious from the porridge incident that barangay
officials are confused. If the above system and policy are chaotic, it is likely that its
implementation will be even more unorganized to the public. The GrabFood driver in Bulacan is
just one of the hundreds of situations that show the government's failure to end the pandemic.

The debated porridge represents the country’s situation when it comes to responding to COVID-
19: there is a thin plan; many apparent brain-broth reasons from officers; and treating COVID-19
as ‘non-essential’. The Philippines now leads the whole Southeast Asia with nearly 140,000 active
cases. Instead of Filipinos returning to normal life, everyone is still struggling to figure out how to
solve the pandemic. The country should start recovering from the damage caused by the virus
but the situation in the Philippines is getting worse compared to last year. This only means one
thing: the perforated IATF system is not working.

Consequently, it is better to replace IATF members with experts in the field of medicine to make
the solutions and policies regarding COVID-19 more comprehensive. If not possible, the current
IATF officers should review their ECQ guidelines and other quarantine protocols with advance
medical solutions such as contact tracing, providing greater compensation to healthcare workers,
and mass testing. The government should also avoid using press conferences as a platform to
raise sarcasm and provoke chaos. Because if we try to understand the situation of the Philippines
today, it is obvious that we are still lost and a porridge-like system still exists.