31/01/2020
Tamang impormasyon lang!
Galing mismo kay Atty. Bruce Rivera
TO BAN OR NOT TO BAN
Ito na ang battlecry. Si PRD daw sobrang tuta ng China at hindi kayang i-ban ang mga Chinese tourists sa bansa. At may mga DDS na mukhang nagiging convinced. May dahilan bakit hindi natin pwede isarado ang airport natin from flight galing China at Hong Kong. Let me count the ways.
1. Wuhan and Hubei has already imposed a lock down so hindi na tayo matatakot na magdecide ang mga taga Wuhan na pumunta sa Pilipinas kasi di sila makakasakay ng eroplano from the city.
2. China has already instituted measures to lessen the spread of the virus like suspending air and rail travel within China. They also stopped group tours outside China. At kung may nakakalanding man, hindi din ito makakapasok sa bansa.
3. Kahit isara pa natin ang bansa natin, may confirmed case na tayo dito. Pero, here is the deal.. wala pang recorded human to human transmission unlike Germany. Reason: Hindi malamig ang Pinas kaya hirap lumipat sa iba ang NCOV. So kahit may positive na, galing sa Wuhan yan at baon nung babae.
4. If we close our borders or ban planes from China, hindi naman ang mga Chinese ang apektado dito. Kasi aside from restrictions by the government, sino ba ang gusto magbakasyon ngayon na Chinese. Moreover, we can always prevent a Chinese from entering the Philippines. Wala na ngang visa on arrival di ba?
5. Closing plane routes from China and HK will not stop transmission kasi nakakahawa kahit walang symptoms. So, its not sure kung ilan talaga ang may sakit. Ang problema kasi, we have 250k OFWs who may want to return to the Philippines na mahihirapan makauwi because we decided to ban flights. Are we ready to sacrifice our heroes because of our paranoia?
6 Dahil wala na visa on arrival, all visas given to Chinese are properly monitored where we will have enough time to prepare and we already have test kits to make sure they are not infected.
7. Hong Kong Airport is a major hub. If we ban all flights from China, it will include HK and all the other international flights that use the airport as hub. Again, are we willing to make these drastic action and the equivalent economic implications when we already know that the virus has already crossed the border.
8. Lastly, prevention is better than cure. And banning flights is not the prevention to consider at this point because it makes too many sacrifices for something that has already been a done deal. The prevention done tackles more on the personal effort of the person to not allow any avenues for infection. The reality is: banning Chinese influx will only place us in a false state of complacency, more dangerous because it gives us a sense of misplaced confidence that we have removed the fear when it may still be there.
So before we decide to insist that PRD lock us out from the Chinese, think and think so more if in the process, we managed to lock us in and become the victim of our own fears.
Bruce Villafuerte Rivera
Salvador Panelo
Martin Marfori Andanar
Lorraine Marie T. Badoy
Persida Acosta
Maria Fema Duterte
MJ Quiambao Reyes
Gemma Sotto
