A VIRUS WITHIN US

A scourge that brings to every human being downfall, an enemy and a traitor that no one can see –
“The Novel Corona Virus of 2019”. A philosopher once said, “We can only survive this plague if we
think as we”. The world seemed shaken the moment COVID-19 pandemic started spreading unceasingly.
It was like a bomb exploded so sudden that not even a single person was able to prepare, it has taken
many lives and put everyone into danger. It caused people panic and worries which triggered their
greediness to reign over them. Some people are helpless and are even hopeless because antidote to this
virus has not been discovered yet. Despite of the frontliners and volunteers sacrificing and risking their
lives in fighting a battle against something that is unseen, there are these citizens who are busy making
chaos out of the chaos.
On the 16th day of March 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte declared the implementation of the
Enhance Community Quarantine (ECQ) in the whole Luzon due to the virus’s widespread. Classes and
government works were suspended, Unessential businesses were forced to stop their operations. Rich and
poor, both have no choice but to stay at home with whatever they have on hand, the virus doesn’t choose
its victim thus, nobody is exempted. Travel restrictions were imposed. Our normal lives begun to pause
for a while, mother nature was able to rest from the abusive acts of humans, there was a healing during
this time.
As the day goes-by, everyone started to get upset and are unease on where to get their food to
eat. Fortunately, the government has given financial assistance or so-called “ayuda” to every deserving
family or individual basing on the criteria/guidelines that the officials have agreed upon. Complainants
are everywhere, opportunists and corrupts moved on their own tricky ways. Hatred and greed prevailed in
the middle of the chaos.
According to Perez (2020), Social Amelioration Program (SAP) is a cash emergency subsidy
program (ESP) for 18 million Filipino families whose lives are greatly affected by the ECQ. It's mandated
by the new law, the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act, which was signed by the President last March 25,
2020. The program is headed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in
cooperation with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and
Management (DBM), and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). The first wave of
the SAP cash assistance has been distributed to qualified families but has raised several reactions and
questions. Citizens were very happy at first to be informed about this Social Amelioration Program, every
qualified family are supposed to receive Php5,000-Php8,000 and they are from the informal sector whose
livelihood has been affected by the ECQ. However, it is expected that as long as money is involved, there
will always be anomalies and corruptions. There are those who were not qualified yet were granted and
on the other hand, there were those who are deserving yet been denied for this help from the government.
. Instead of helping hand in hand to fight as one, people still had the gut to take advantage against
their fellow citizens. This disaster is no longer the only enemy that each of us is facing right now, the real
enemy is dwelling inside us and is eating us gradually There is nothing more dangerous and terrifying but
the virus that we generate within ourselves. If only, each of us have a compassionate heart rather than a
greedy one, this pandemic could be controlled in a shorter period of time. If only, we think as we, and not
me, perhaps, deaths and sufferings would be lesser than the usual.