Lockdown : What is needed

Under a lockdown scenario … While we accept this as a necessary evil, the government need not be arrogant and insensitive to get the job done right. The public health and safety concerns rationale for the lockdown is acknowledged as necessary.

However, to make the lockdown objectively successful to break the COVID-19 virus transmission chain, there is need for aggressive public information to appreciate this rationale so as to gain universal support.

Nevertheless, the government should not forget that at the end of the day, we are their masters and not the other way around.

The sudden and impromptu decision of the Palace to lock down the whole of Luzon, for public good, had caught the citizenry off-guard and unprepared. The lockdown has seriously disrupted day-to-day life for everyone.

It had left too many people unprepared for the exigency of a lockdown period … leaving the public with a lot of impor­tant unfinished commitments (personal, business and official), which has led to unnecessary and lingering stress to indivi­duals, families and the community at-large, not knowing how or when they can be addressed.

Should extension of the lockdown period be necessary, government planners must improve on the thoroughness and quality of their planning.

Inasmuch as, this time, their extension planning activity will no longer be an impromptu event and will carry the experiences encountered in the impromptu lockdown from March 16 to April 15. Therefore, failing the articulated concerns will not be forgivable.

The planners must consider in their plans the needs of all sectors and their linkages/logistics (forward and backward) to maintain and assure their minimum viability.

Further, time is precious and should not be wasted. Therefore, there is a need for the government to figure out what are the minimum functions and services of government that need to continue to serve day-to-day public needs as well as to take full advantage of the lull in civilian activity to efficiently expedite its “Build, Build, Build” Program.

Government must be sensitive to the minimum needs of the constituents … What are the key minimum needs of small and medium enterprises to continue their operation so as to avoid bankruptcy as well as to continue to provide positive economic contribution and vital service to their stay-in-place community? How do you address the needs of the day workers and contract workers who will have to stay home without income during the lockdown period? How about our economically challenged poor brothers and sisters who can barely pass a day with only a meal before the lockdown was imposed?

We, the people, need answers!

It is reasonable to expect that this time, the necessary government services will have to be identified, manned and mobilized to address the minimum public expectation for the citizenry to continue to function even under a lockdown scenario.

Government must consider all the above concerns in their planning and provide solutions to address them, if we, the public, are all expected to go through this extended lockdown period with tole­rable stress and maximum public support for government’s action.

While it is the government’s responsibility to insure public health and safety, they have the equal obligation to keep life tole­rable for all. Being unreasonable, arrogant or insensitive would just be courting public defiance.

Tell us … at the end of the day, what should we expect from our government for the lost income, tolerance, sacrifice, hardship, lost time … which cannot be recovered?

Just be frank, transparent, upfront and provide good governance that’s free from corruption; hold to account public officials who believe themselves to be entitled and above the law. And in return, you can expect full and unqualified public support for the extended lockdown and a grateful nation for steering us through the crisis that nobody wants. INQ

This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or the MAP. The author is member of the MAP National Issues Committee, chair and president of BNL Management Corporation and former NFA Administrator. Feedback at [email protected]. For previous articles, please visit map.org.ph