#VoxPopuli | Leaving the Comforts of our Blankets
by Keona Rae M. Malaya
“If you want to go somewhere fast, go there alone.” I listened to the speaker’s passionate voice under my comforter, on my bed, and from the safe walls of my own home. It is no surprise then that I can barely recall the rest of the speech, as sleep welcomed me into its solace. This phenomenon of being able to do something else while listening to a class, program, or webinar is only possible through technology. With a link and access to the internet, people from all over the world can connect and make meaningful interactions despite being seas away. Furthermore, this adjustment to online learning is pertinent in our continuous development as students; otherwise, two years would have passed without us learning anything.
Of course, this adjustment came with conditions that cannot be satisfied by many. Many Filipinos have limited access to the internet, mobile devices, and even electricity. If I can enjoy the convenience of listening to my lectures from the comforts of my bed, some cannot even enjoy their right to education. With the policies of quarantine affecting the livelihoods of many, the conditions for online learning are even more difficult to reach.
Students like me deal with the doubt of whether we are truly learning anything in this setup and how long will it take until we may be broken free from this lockdown. The issues look vastly different when we go down income levels. They are the ones who suffer the brunt of this pandemic’s consequences. People who live in congested areas are more likely to catch the disease due to the lack of space. How will they practice the social-distancing policy when distance is a currency they cannot afford? They suffer from arrests and harsh punishment from the authorities when they break quarantine guidelines to put food on the table. In the current landscape, we can see that there are two ways to kill a Filipino: through hunger or through COVID-19.
This pandemic unveils how faulty our health policies are, and how they fail to cater or consider the sectors that need these policies the most. Band-aid solutions such as periodical lockdowns do not address the root of the problem. The pandemic has taken a toll on the development of the country because of its outrageous length — two years or so were needed to significantly lower the case count each day. If only mass testing and strict travel restrictions were put in place as early as January to March 2020, solutions that specifically avoid the unwanted spiral of the problem, the health crisis may have been less severe than what we have seen.
This pandemic revealed a lot of flaws in the country’s functions. Now, the rift between the privileged and the poor is wider than ever. Those who can study are the ones who have access to the needed technology. Those who can work from the safety of their homes are the ones with occupations that do not demand labor. What about our country’s carpenters and farmers? What of their children who need to finish education? Will they be left to eat the dust of those who already moved forward, those who benefit from and not disadvantaged by the rules?
If this goes on, history may repeat itself. A pandemic back in the 14th century was the cause of death for over 75 million people. The Church was not able to address the pandemic, and the lack of scientific knowledge further held back chances of recovery and prevention of the plague’s spread. Those in Europe who were lucky enough to survive the dark devastation entered the gates of the Renaissance, a time period that marks Europe’s arguably most flourishing beginning. Beliefs shifted from faith in the Church due to their incompetency and towards the development of more logical reasoning, such as sciences and arts.
If we follow history’s example where the pandemic was handled without science, lives are sure to be lost. This can be even more upsetting when our situation is different now. Science is at the palm of our hands, and we can utilize it to alleviate the burdens of the health issues we face for good, not just for now. Deaths, economic losses, and upsetting consequences can be addressed with science-fueled, human-centered policies.
The sociocultural shift that I want to see in our current landscape is the upliftment of science, research, and technology. The pandemic is a wake-up call on how we need these to solve the problems that we face as we navigate and pursue a more comfortable life for each and every citizen in the Philippines. Should we wait for our country to die first before we may enter our rebirth? How much more should citizens risk to see the sights of the golden gates or the sliver of dawn? Science, first and foremost, is for the people, the marginalized, and the vulnerable. By funding the UP-developed COVID-19 tester, mass testing and contact tracing may have been done at a cheaper price. By having technology-powered contact tracing systems, the spread of the virus may be minimized. Science is severely underfunded in the Philippines even when these are prime mediums of development. The health of the citizens is the wealth of the country. With safer environments and healthy workers, the Philippines may enter a rebirth it has needed for so long.
As for what I will do to see the light of this rebirth, I will leave the warmth of my comforter. Only in the unification of our voices may be this message amplified and heard. I have to empathize with the people who I will eventually serve as a future scientist and urge those who already can to implement the changes that we citizens deserve. Now that I think about it, I remember the quote the speaker I forgot earlier. He said, with a burning passion: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
References:
Richard, Katherine Schulz. (2021, May 13). The Global Impacts of the Black Death. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/global-impacts-of-the-black-death-1434480
Watson-Novacek, G. A.- D., & Nevin, L. (n.d.). Home. BellaOnline. Retrieved November 26, 2021, from http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31353.asp.
