By Herbert Vego
YOU and I have heard it said, “What you don’t know does not hurt.”
But why are we hurt by daily doses of stories on the “unknown” microscopic enemy that has kept the world economy tumbling down for one year already?
Some of us believe that our only hope for survival is an experimental vaccine, and just because the “authorities” tell us so.
As of yesterday, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the worldwide cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) had hit almost 200 million, of which 2.7 million had died.
Seemingly shocking, but not so bad when viewed against today’s world population of 7.9 billion. According to the United Nations (UN), an average of 120 million people die of various diseases and other causes every year, which is less than the corresponding number of babies born annually — 140 million.
We get all the “facts” about the disease from the WHO and our Department of Health (DOH). And because we view the men and women thereat as “experts,” we brush off contrary information from other sources as “fake news”.
But the truth of the matter is that the history of the virus remains a “state secret” of China. While we all know that it originated from that country’s Wuhan City, the question of whether it came from bat in a public market or was “formulated” as a biological weapon by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has remained unanswered.
If we care to look back, it was a 34-year-old ophthalmologist, Li Wenliang, who first warned the people about a strange viral disease that could grow out of control. For that, the CCP reprimanded and forced him to sign a statement denouncing his warning as an unfounded rumor.
On February 7, 2020, Dr. Li died in a Wuhan hospital days after contracting the very illness he had warned against. By then, the virus had infected 31,161 and killed 636 people in mainland China.
The world then took notice of scary TV news footages showing ordinary Chinese citizens walking and literally falling down dead because of the disease which was then abbreviated as “nCov-19” and later as “COVID-19”.
Whether true or make-believe, those scenes must have triggered the impression of the disease being deadly and incurable.
Strange as it seems, we have shared common “first case” with other Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and South Korea.
Our first confirmed Covid-19 case was a 39-year-old female tourist from Wuhan, who was admitted to San Lazaro Hospital in Manila on January 25, 2020.
Thailand identified its first Covid case as a 61-year-old female tourist from Wuhan, who arrived in Bangkok on January 8, 2020.
On January 20, 2020, South Korea reported its first case of the novel coronavirus –a 35-year-old female tourist from Wuhan.
There could be more of those Wuhan ladies. Circumstantial, or intentional?
While this writer is not saying that those women from Wuhan were on a “mission to infect,” what if they were? There had been postings in the social media (eventually deleted) calling the pandemic a “plandemic”
As of yesterday, the Philippines’ share of total Covid cases in the WHO “worldometer” numbered 616,611; total deaths, 12,766. That sounds too many, as if we have no other disease to worry about. And yet figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) indicate no less than 1,500 Filipinos dying daily – yes, daily – mostly from other killer diseases.
Government-imposed lockdowns — euphemistically called GCQ, ECQ or whatever abbreviated alias to describe community quarantine – have caused the loss of livelihood of 4.5 million Filipino entrepreneurs and laborers.
We ask: Could we not have saved the economy by simply social distancing, face masking/shielding and handwashing without closing shops?
Some of them have reopened but the others must have gone too poor to even think of reopening.
THE BETTER DEFENSOR
REP. LORENZ DEFENSOR (3rd Dist., Iloilo) stands out as the only Western Visayas congressman who voted “no” to the bill amending the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act (RA No. 9165).
In fact, there were only 11 of them who opposed this administration bill which, when passed into law, would presume an illegal drug possessor or anybody around him at the time of the arrest “guilty” until proven innocent.
In other words, even if you don’t personally know the suspect but had the misfortune of just being a few meters away, you could also be arrested and charged with violation of RA 9165.
The majority of 188 other congressmen – including party-list Rep. Mike Defensor — voted “yes,” obviously because they would not want to displease President Duterte.
But of course, like Cong. Lorenz, all lawyers in the House are aware of Article III Section 14(2) of the Philippine Constitution: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and counsel, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to have a speedy, impartial, and public trial, to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have compulsory process to secure the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence on his behalf.”
We dread to imagine that the Senate would also do as told. We are reminded of the famous quotation from Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
BEWARE OF POWER SAVING DEVICES
IF you have fallen prey to an ad about portable devices that “reduce” electric bills when plugged on any outlet, beware! Months ago I bought one, only to find out that it reduced nothing but money in my wallet.
Some victims of this scam told us that they had thought it was authentic because they had read the ad on the Facebook page of MORE Power, the sole distribution utility in Iloilo City.
In a public advisory posted by MORE Power in its FB account, however, the company disowned the ad, saying, “We have not partnered with any businesses or individuals selling or offering ‘power saving’ devices.”
Our suspicion is that the advertiser had asked FB to post the ad wherever it could attract its target audience.
Moreover, there are now individuals allegedly representing MORE Power for its services – as in processing of application for electrical connections or related documents in exchange for any fee ranging from P2,000 to P25,000.
They are plain and simple unauthorized “fixers” — like the ones loitering around the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
Incidentally, MORE Power has launched its Information and Education Campaign (IEC) that entails assistance on applications in every barangay through its iKonek Caravan.
Korek, Kuya Aye?
