ON CNN Philippines last week, an exceptional species that had been the object of search by the Greekcynic Diogenes, looking for one in broad daylight using a lamp, emerged out of the woodwork: an honest man, finally.
Asked if he would have himself vaccinated by the Chinese Sinovac, Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco paused a bit as if trying to evade the question thrown point blank by a relentless Rico Hizon.
Tiangco replied in the flat negative, expressing his lack of confidence in the Chinese vaccine that days before appeared ready to be rammed down the throat of many Filipinos. The imperious-sounding presidential mouthpiece Harry Roque had warned his countrymen couldn’t be choosy. He noticeably didn’t blush. Blushing, after all, is the color of virtue, according to Diogenes himself.
Tiangco wasn’t alone, it turned out. At least less than 70 percent of his constituents are of the same mind. Tiangco’s voice of reason may have heightened people’s doubt about the vaccine’s safety and efficacy factors and further strengthened public pushback. It was a moral victory.
It wasn’t a politically correct answer, but it was a challenge to a lot of people to be firmer and braver, not pliant and quiet, with what seems like an onerous, untenable imposition by the government.
The room temperature for many Filipinos must have improved after that honest public disclosure of where Tiangco stood on the Sinovac choice, given the silence of many who were voted into or put in office to say the right thing. To be sure, a few have revealed their preferred vaccine choice. But their statements stopped short of non-endorsing sound bites and sidestepping other issues related to its acceptability.
Our room temperature wasn’t already right even before the deadly virus descended upon us like a curse. The brazen assault on our democratic space has been relentless, at times, ruthless as if someone is in a hurry to finish the job in a short time. It is yet to be known if the pandemic has slowed or accelerated the demolition process, although some political analysts believed the beast of a bug is in cahoots with despots and authoritarians.
The double whammies on our comfort level were aggravated by some people in high places in government either because of inefficiency and incompetence, or outright obfuscation of truth, science and morality about the government’s vaccination plan. The lack of transparency on the vaccines’ prices, particularly Sinovac, is more of a red herring than a reality check.
Tiangco’s bold declaration should have emboldened others, in government and the private sector, in standing firm not only for the people’s health welfare but, more broadly, in other public spaces that impact our democratic values and institutions.
It’s about time more Tiangcos stood up and be counted. Of late, the room temperature has been raised by several degrees more not only by internal threats but by an external one with China further asserting its claim over the South China Sea. The latest addition to this aggressive assertion is the passing of a law by the Chinese government authorizing basically the use of force against perceived foreign incursion into the disputed maritime territory.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy “Boy” Locsin would have been a modern Filipino patriot for filing a diplomatic protest over the law, albeit belatedly and even if he was simply rightfully doing his job. Too late the hero, alas, because his first reaction when concerned Filipino officials raised the hackles was to tell them it wasn’t their business to do so.
When a gun is pointed at you, someone said, you must assume it’s loaded. In the first place, one must think — and act ASAP—why the deadly weapon is pointed in one’s direction. Locsin’s initial knee-jerk response wasn’t just a gaffe but misplaced subservience that smacked of patriotism deficit. Indeed, our room temperature discomfort is caused by some of our leaders being to nice to bullies, from within and from without.
Remember the early vacillation on the suggested ban on Chinese visitors when the virus was already known to be a health threat? One official, or more, decided against it because it would supposedly offend our so-called Chinese friends and benefactors.
That vacillation is, on the rear view mirror, the root of our confusion and consternation about the vaccination rigmarole.
The anti-terror law, which has been assailed by various sectors for its threat to freedom and democracy, is a Mona Lisa in the Supreme Court. There it lies, for many months now, not yet dead or dying, but a widely felt dread is palpable. In meantime, those who cheer over it are starting to sow fear in the hearts of those who are questioning its morality and legality using the Constitution as legal and moral firewall.
Absent the right vaccine or delay in jabbing the people would jeopardize the economy that has been brought to a halt, if not to its knees, by the pandemic and, as economic experts point out, by poor government response to it.
Political, economic and health issues combined as a disastrous confluence to bring about an abnormal room temperature in the Philippines, People are chafing, experiencing difficulty breathing, literally and figuratively, if not choking.
Tiangco’s honesty is relevant and invigorating, like a breeze of fresh air into our room improve the air circulation where we are at.
