A Reunion (of sorts)

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

The idea came up every now and then, but we never got around to seeing each other. Until now.

Earlier today, my batch mates and I met online. It’s been (mumble) years since we graduated from college. Two of them are in Chicago, one in Canada and four of us in the Philippines. There are three more who cannot join us, but we hope to see them next week.

Seeing their faces makes me wish we’d really made the effort during our younger years. I can imagine us meeting in a restaurant, eating good food, then transferring to a coffee shop and having great cake and pastries.

All the time, we’d be laughing and reminiscing, and undoubtedly getting a few frowns or tolerant smiles from those seated in the tables next to us.

We are still noisy, but four of us in the Philippines are sweating in the summer heat in our homes. It is dark for two, because it is night where they are. The one in Canada left early on to cook dinner.

One stays online while cooking breakfast and we tease her about her negligee as we catch glimpses of it when she moves around, preparing food. Those who just got out of bed are thankful that no smell, good or bad, comes across the Internet.

We greet one who is celebrating her birthday. We sing despite the absence of a cake. Maybe it's a good thing. At our age, there would have been too many candles anyway. 😅

We start by giving updates about ourselves. We are familiar with some of the stories because all of us have FB accounts, but it is good to hear details. It’s been a long time since we last talked.

It is when we start going into familiar territory that the fun begins. Some of our memories are accurate, and some downright funny. Our only guy starts singing the song we sang at the "Pasko sa UP" choral competition and the rest of us join him. 

One starts playing with the filters on her phone and I soon get burgers and pineapples and what looks like an '80s sweat band. There is much laughing and teasing. This lasts for about an hour before reality intrudes and we sign off.

It’s all right. There is still so much to talk about and we are not going anywhere under this lockdown.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of April 20, 2020, the Philippines has reported 6,459 confirmed corona virus cases, including 613 recoveries and 428 deaths.

Tiktok

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

Oh my goodness. I can barely breathe.

The company that my husband works for asks its employees, who are working from home, to do stuff that is supposed to help break the monotony of home quarantine and keep depression at bay.

At first, they are asked to post a picture of something creative, which earns a few laughs here and there and much ribbing. As intended, the stuff submitted provides a lot of comic relief.

After that, they are asked to sing a certain song and submit a video of them doing it, which is later edited into a compilation of all of them doing the song.

DJ Loonyo (YouTube)

This week, they are asked to film themselves doing the Frontliners Dance Challenge as popularized by DJ Loonyo, a dancer/ choreographer over TikTok. The short video is set to the music “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten.

Not only is hubby nearing retirement age, he has two left feet and no sense of rhythm. He has heard of TikTok but has not downloaded the app. Nonetheless, he checks out the link his office gives him then turns to me for help. I have to take a video of him doing the dance challenge.

Of course, I oblige. What are wives for?

He studies the moves. Tries them out. Studies the moves. Tries ever so hard. I can’t help it. I study the moves. I dance with him. I feel like crying. I actually cry, from laughing so hard. So does he.

I can barely contain my laughter and keep the camera still while recording him. Again. Again, and yet again. It does not seem like we are getting anywhere with this, but we persist. We are having too much of a good time.

Whoever it is in their company who thought of this is on to something. It's certainly taken our mind off COVID-19, even for just a few hours.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of April 19, 2020, the Philippines has reported 6,259 confirmed corona virus cases, including 572 recoveries and 409 deaths.

K-dramas

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

Time can really fly when you’re glued to the screen or the monitor, which is probably why so many of those forced to stay home under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) turn to Netflix.

My sisters are among those who do, so in our video calls the talk inevitably goes to who’s watching what and which episode. These days, it’s all about Korean drama (K-drama).

L-R: Lee Min Ho (Neflix) and Hyun Bin (Esquire)

I find out I am one of those who have not watched “Crash Landing on You.” I also have to search for Lee Min Ho and Hyun Bin on Google so that I can understand why one sister “prefers” the former to the latter. I get lost when someone else mentions “Goblin”. When I find out it is the guy who stars in the movie “Train to Busan” which I really like, I am sold.

But I cannot keep up. The avowed K-drama fan mentions other titles, which I know I will not watch. The only one that is familiar to me is “Descendants of the Sun” because I read a news report of a Filipino remake, which my sister dismisses as she prefers to watch the original.

I am amused by their passion, but I do not judge them for it. I went through “Flor de Luna”, “Mulawin”, “Encantadia” before I graduated to cable TV and found “Downton Abbey”, “The Walking Dead” and “NCIS”, among others.  Now a housewife, I find that I am easily distracted so I prefer not to watch a story that stretches over numerous episodes in several seasons.

So when multi-awarded director Erik Matti takes to Twitter to express his frustration over the Filipino’s preference for K-drama, which he describes as “faux Cinderella stories with belofied actors whiter than white,” that are “all about love in the midst of this pandemic,”  I am amused.

The local film and TV industry is not doomed because South Korean series and movies dominate the top 10 most viewed shows on the streaming platform Netflix.

Netflix, despite its popularity, is not the sole barometer of our viewing preferences, especially because in our country, television still rules despite the rise of digital.  

Matti knows this, in the same way that as a director, he is very much aware of escapism - you know, the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment.

I don’t know what he was thinking, but judging from the responses, I think he is getting the attention the tweet deserves.

If he wants Filipinos to be more picky and cerebral about their viewing preferences, he should just come up with an option. Otherwise, let us be. If we do not want to view material depicting social realities, it’s because we’re in one right now, big-time.

“It is the Korean dramas that are getting me through the isolation,” is the simple explanation my sister offers when she sees his tweet.

That’s it, really. That’s all there is to it.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of April 18, 2020, the Philippines has reported 6,087 confirmed corona virus cases, including 516 recoveries and 397 deaths.

Following rules

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

I am so tired. I sat in line for an hour and a half to get into the supermarket. It took me about an hour to get everything I need. Then it took me about an hour STANDING in line to pay for everything.

After about 20 minutes with the line barely moving, the man behind me got smart, took the gallon of ice cream out of his cart and returned it to the supermarket freezer.

I thought I’d timed it right. I was at the supermarket at 3:15 p.m., close enough to 5 p.m., when the guards would close the doors on would-be customers to give those who were already inside enough time to do their groceries before the closing time of 7 p.m.

By the time it was my turn to pay, it was 7:35 p.m. You can bet I was watching the clock all the time. I made it home with just minutes to spare before the 8 p.m. curfew. I was all nerves. Never again.

Yes, I am one of those people who follow rules. So I get upset when I see all of these people on TV leaving their homes to play bingo with their neighbors, or attending and betting on a cockfight with their barangay chief in attendance, or having themselves tested for COVID-19 before those who show symptoms of infection.

I seethe when I see two people buying groceries together, in flagrant violation of the provision that only one person should leave the house should there be a need to get food and/or medicine.

I see what they do: One person stands in line while the other does the shopping, leaving very little time queuing up for the cashier. It is efficient. But it is unfair and crafty at this time. 

Those violating the rules do not wait long at all; they get home earlier than the rest of us. Yes, I wish them all sorts of things in my head – none of them good.

I also cannot understand why people think a barangay pass is a permit to cross to the next city just so they can get their choice cut of beef or the other luxuries they are accustomed to. I get doubly annoyed when they post a photo of the goods and I find myself green with envy.

I cannot believe the number of people who get caught on the streets past the 8 p.m. curfew and how they can look very relaxed as they justify why they are not yet inside their homes.

I only know that I drove very fast to make it home before the curfew. It was only at the sight of the village gates that I felt waves of relief wash over me, and I felt myself slowing down.

I tell you. I am so tired.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of April 17, 2020, the Philippines has reported 5,878 confirmed corona virus cases, including 487 recoveries and 387 deaths.

Who receives?

(Part of an ongoing account started on March 13, 2020 of how the spread of COVID-19 in our country and our government’s response has affected our lives.)

Today, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced it has stopped accepting applications for the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).

They say that the CAMP budget of P1.6B “is very nearly depleted.” Later, they qualify that DOLE has stopped CAMP applications because the Department of Finance is rolling out its own program for the middle-class, particularly the wage subsidy program.

I think that after DOLE relaxed the documentary requirements and assured employer-applicants that all information provided will not come back to bite them EVER (think unregistered business, double ledger systems, etc.), the deluge was overwhelming.

This goes back again to the fact that there is an underground economy, that small businesses are able to operate despite the lack of permits, sanitary requirements, and non-compliance with labor rules, etc. 

Why the non-compliance? It is so hard to start and sustain a business in the Philippines because of the ONEROUS PROCESSES and RED TAPE that enterprising “fixers” and corrupt government employees are so quick to take advantage of. 

If your pockets aren't deep enough, you're already operating at a loss even before you can start your business. 

This also tells you why the Department of Trade and Industry does not have an accurate data base of businesses, just like the Department of Social Welfare and Development cannot really determine who are the poorest of the poor or the number of families that should be the beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP).

For National Government to adequately serve the Filipino citizenry, they have to go back to the SMALLEST local government unit, which is the barangay. If the barangay cannot even give the numbers, who can?

Barangay officials, however, are so far from the national coffers that they do what they can with what they have, which is not a lot. Some of the tanods are not even on the payroll; they make do with an allowance.

This crisis is teaching us that when government does not have the mechanism to accurately identify its target beneficiaries, aid to those affected will be a loooong time coming, if at all.

News reports carry a version of it every day: barangay so and so appealing for inclusion in the SAP; senior citizens complaining they have not received anything, etc. and etc.

I wish the government thinktank will FINALLY prioritize addressing this inefficiency because it looks like there will still be more interventions, which have to be adequate not only in terms of amount, but also in coverage.

If this does not happen, Government shall have failed miserably and no amount of threatening, ranting, and cursing by our president on late night TV will make up for it.

DoH update: As of 4 p.m. of April 16, 2020, the Philippines has reported 5,660 confirmed corona virus cases, including 435 recoveries and 362 deaths.