By Atty. Eduardo T. Reyes III
“The Philippines’ lockdown”, as reported in The Economist (Lockdown in the Philippines, Four months and counting, July 11th 2020), [is] “among the fiercest and longest-lasting in the world, has been terrible for millions x x x”. For the duration of the lockdown, the Filipinos were hemmed inside their homes. Almost all business sectors were ordered locked-up except for the exceptionally essential establishments that catered to basic necessities that are underpinned in water, food and medicine. The streets became deserted as movement was heavily restricted: even the most innocuous act of going to the grocery called for an invasive scrutiny inside one’s car to present Quarantine passes (Q-passes) to be followed by a crime investigation-like inquiry of the purpose of the travel to and fro.
While there may have been deviants who dared to flout the regulatory impositions of the government, the general populace had mostly adhered to the guidelines and their compliance was recognized in the eventual lifting of the severest restrictions; and by the fact that most of the people in the country had been allowed to leave their homes and return to their semi-normal lives with minimum restrictions.
But as everyone emerged flummoxed from their home quarantine, the world outside has so much changed that bewildered them some more. Many of the workers who were furloughed have found that much to the desire of their employers to keep them still under their employ, these business owners have already closed-shop either for fear of incurring heavy losses, or because they have already succumbed to massive business meltdowns.
And not only the lowly-worker. Even professionals whose livelihood depends mainly on personal interaction, like for instance, lawyers and medical doctors have experienced a significant if not debilitating cut on their fees and incomes due to governmental restrictions in the practice of their profession.
As the reshaping of society, the business environment and the economy, in general, pervade the life of every individual, wishing to return to normal may be surrealistic. Cities and towns in the country are no longer what they used to be. The usual bustling cities and towns which were propitiously on an economic upward trajectory before COVID-19 struck, have turned sleepy if not in slumber. Strolling in malls that are eerily empty and driving through streets that are strangely traffic-less even on a payday, heighten and test one’s credulity. The anxiety mounts as the people ask their government: Quo vadis? Where are you going?
And then as if to rub salt on this multitude of wounds, the government does not only not reply but the people hear of irregularities in the disbursement of governmental funds- or more simply, the handling of the people’s money. It started with the reported issues with the Department of Health’s ineptitude in the procurement of test-kits and then the controversy at the PhilHealth coffers.
During this time- a most trying and difficult time- when even the most powerful nations in the world are staggered by the pandemic, the last thing that the people need are siren songs of “beating expert’s predictions and models”. And the government has to take extra care of the people’s money too as the end of the pandemic is definitely still far from sight. It can ill-afford to create this ruckus causing controversies when the people’s morale and esteem are at an all-time low. This is not the time for the government to overlook shenanigans among its men. The controversies on alleged anomalous dipping into the public’s cookie jar must be swiftly investigated and resolved.
Less than a century ago, in a dissenting opinion on a US Supreme Court decision that validated governmental short-cuts that impinged on the citizenry’s constitutional rights, Justice Louis Brandeis excoriated the government for it, as he referred to government as the people’s “potent, omnipresent teacher”. He said that: “Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. x x x.” (J. Brandeis dissenting in Olmstead v. US, [1928]).
As events caused by COVID-19 are unfolding, it is increasingly becoming clear that we are not winning this war. That perhaps it will only be the miraculous discovery of the perfect vaccine that can end everyone’s misery. But at this time, there is no timeline nor panacea in sight.
Where will the people look to and seek illumination on the direction that the nation is headed in this critical moment, but their own government.
Now, the people are indignantly asking: Quo vadis? Where are you going?
(Atty. Eduardo T. Reyes, III is the senior partner of ET Reyes III & Associates- a law firm based in Iloilo City. He is a litigation attorney, a law professor and a law book author. His website is etriiilaw.com).
