Opportunities in crisis! GOV’T MUST LEARN LESSONS FROM COVID SURVIVORS TALE

Every crisis opens windows of opportunities.

The global pandemic, COVID 19, which terrified the world and devastated the economies of nations, is a crisis which I believe the Philippines could learn lessons and benefit from.

Every crisis manager worth his salt would not be blinded by the degree of losses he suffered but would always focus on whatever little victories he made and learn from these to turn the tide to his favor.

In the case of the COVID 19 crisis, however, I am surprised why we have been so obsessed with the number of infections running up to almost half-a-million and almost 10,000 deaths.

These figures appear to have caused a national paralysis with the whole country waiting for the vaccine that has yet to come which would cost us tens of billions of pesos.

Of the 497,000 COVID 19 infections reported, 9,876 died and 460,000 survived.

It is impossible to ask those who died to guide us on how to avoid death but certainly, it is easy to ask the 460,000 survivors how they overcame the infection and learn from their stories to be able to survive.

There should be a series of COVID Stories coming from survivors so that the whole country would not only be able to prepare for it but also benefit from the crisis.

I will start this COVID Stories Series with the experiences of three family members who were found positive and infected with COVID 19 but who all survived.

The first family member to be infected last year was Shane Matthew, son of our youngest brother, Socrates, who worked as a frontliner for the Provincial Government of Cotabato handling the return of stranded individuals coming home to the province.

After a 14-day quarantine, he was cleared and is now back to work.

The second kin who tested positive for COVID 19 was Eireen Romblon Piñol, wife of my younger brother, Noli.

Eireen works with the Government Service Insurance System and after a 14-day confinement, she was able to make it to the last vigil of our Nanay.

She too has been cleared and is now back to work.

The family’s scariest encounter with the virus was in the case of Beverly Betinol Piñol, wife of brother No. 10 Nilo whose family, including three children, are British Citizens living in London.

Beverly, who works as a nurse, may have contracted the virus in her place of work.

What made her case worse than the two others was the fact that when the test results showed her to be positive of COVID 19, she was at home with her husband and three children.

She suffered from fever and she had to be kept in a room away from the children who could not also venture out because it was towards the end of December, the height of winter.

Last week, Nilo shared with the family the relieving news that Beverly survived and is now cleared to go back to work.

That was when I decided to ask each of them what they did during the 14-day confinement and isolation which helped them survive.

Except for the Azythromycin for Shane and the Paracetamol for Beverly, all three of them followed the family’s advice to take a lot of Vitamin C from Calamansi Juice and tablets.

In the Philippines, what are the sources of Vitamin C?

Ang dami. Nasa paligid lang natin. Number 1 dyan ang Citrus or Calamansi which is grown in almost every backyard and is considered a major agricultural activity in Mindoro.

This is the window of opportunity that I am talking about.

The billions of pesos allocated for the Bayanihan Heal As One interventions should not only be focused on the vaccine but should also look at how to boost the immune system of our people.

The Department of Health should take the lead in this program to be supported by the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture.

The DA should promote and support the planting of crops rich in Vitamin C, the DOST should work on the processing of Vitamin C drinks or capsules, the DepEd should make it mandatory for schoolchildren to take a capsule or drinks rich in Vitamin C everyday while the DOH should undertake a nationwide information campaign on the benefits of Vitamin C.

This Pandemic has also taught us a very important lesson: The weak will perish while the fittest will survive.

Our farmers will benefit from this crisis earning billions from growing crops rich in Vitamin C even as we nurture a nation of healthy children.

Let us remember the saying “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”

Of course, Sinovac, Pfizer, Moderna and the Big Pharma would not like this advocacy but then that is another story.

In the meantime, let us share our COVID Survivors’ Stories. Certainly, we could learn a lot from them.

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!