I am one of the many Baguio citizens who are angry with this San Juan City mayor’s disrespect of our quarantine protocols.
After almost two and half months of our “stay at home” protocol to help the city flatten the curve of Covid-19 and to “heal as one,” we went out to visit our dentist only last June 5. And that is also because our daughter is very strict with her senior citizen parents so as not to compromise our health. On the same day, we found out that an irresponsible official breached the city’s protocol with so many excuses, one of them cancer.
Though our Mayor Benjie Magalong already accepted the apology of Mayor Francis Zamora, most of us Baguio folks including me have not forgiven him and this is expressed in the recent petition to declare the mayor of San Juan “persona non grata.”
The petition initiated on June 8, already gathered about 14,000 plus signatures as of this writing and was forwarded to the city council through the vice mayor copy furnished the mayor and the city councilors.
Why am I angry? Because an entourage of 18 might be asymptomatic, but carriers. Yes, we are scared of the virus. It is invisible and deadly. The emotional and financial cost is unbearable. The daily reports of the Department of Health tabulate the lost lives nationwide and Baguio is still not free from the Covid-19. My daughter and the rest of the family who go out only to the market and buy groceries expose themselves to the dangers and go through all the protocols and procedures: carrying their home quarantine passes, observe physical distancing, wearing their face mask, sanitizing everything bought from groceries and the market, immediate bathing upon reaching home.
The San Juan mayor even used the cancer of his wife as a sorry excuse. Did you not announce that she was cancer-free several months ago? Cancer is no joke. I know, because I am a cancer survivor. This is disrespect to the survivors and to those still battling the disease. We don’t want to be exposed and to be used for whatever reason. We don’t want you,Mayor Zamora to add us to the statistics because you were negligent and irresponsible.
My children got stranded in Manila and still are, unable to come home because, they too, do not want the family exposed and so nagtitiis and mga anak ko at ang iba pang mga magulang at mamamayan ng Baguio na hindi makita, mayapos at mahagkan ang kanilang anak at kapamilya para lang sumunod sa batas at para sa kaligtasan ng nakararami. Hindi rin namin mapuntahan ang aming apo dito sa Baguio para hindi ma-expose ang bata. Nagsasakripisyo kami, samantalang ikaw? Mahal namin ang Baguio. Mahal at may respeto kami sa amingmayor. Pero bakit wala kang respeto?
Excuse me Mayor Zamora. Don’t treat us like children. Baguio people are disciplined, educated, intelligent, law abiding, responsible, and peace loving.
We sacrificed a lot and we followed guidelines. We respect our authorities. I suggest you put a name to all members of your entourage who went through the triage. I hope your family is not included and only police officers. Let us pray no one is asymptomatic.
April 19, 2024
