CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
School Year in Review
It was the tail end of February 2020. I was running late to my Physics 72 class, praying to every higher power in existence if they could prevent my prof from giving a surprise quiz within the first 10 minutes of the period. COVID-19 seemed so distant back then. Certainly you’d get the occasional reminder from a worried professor: wear masks, wash your hands, and all of that back when there was not much of a need for caution. Now it seems as if normality is very much out of reach, at least for the time being.
While the situation in our country looks bleak, the environment and the world around us continues to change. Let’s start with the events leading up to our current reality.
March 2020 — Extreme Enhanced Retired General Granular Modified Community Quarantine with some restrictions [slowed + reverb]
Engineering Week was held in the latter part of February to early March, wherein UP Circuit clinched fourth place. Instead of celebrating the winners or surviving the coming hell week, however, another kind of hell was waiting to meet us: the lockdown. Initially thought to be a one-week quarantine of Metro Manila alone, it would quickly expand to encompass the whole of Luzon and, eventually, the entire country. Many were stranded for weeks without their regular commute or ways back home. The lockdown created more questions than answers for us students — questions of how to move forward, questions of how to go back to normal. Travel restrictions were soon set into place, and a mask mandate was then enforced. With a climbing number of infections and deaths, it quickly became evident that the COVID-19 threat is, in fact, a real one. “Social distancing” and “1 meter away” would thus become buzzwords, being one of the many ways of suppressing the spread of the virus.
May 2020 — ABS-CBN Shutdown
When it seemed that nothing else could possibly add to the commotion caused by the pandemic, circumstances would prove otherwise. Just as when up-to-date news is as vital as ever, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) ordered broadcasting giant ABS-CBN to shut down its free TV, AM, and FM stations throughout the country due to the expiration of its legislative franchise. Although seemingly done in accordance with the law, congressional hearings before and after the shutdown would highlight a common theme — ABS-CBN was shut down out of a personal vendetta, out of President Rodrigo Duterte’s anger for the airing of a campaign ad targeted against him. Fans of the network, media workers, activist groups, and the greater public would come together to call for its return, calling the shutdown an attack on press freedom. In fact, it is believed that the loss of ABS-CBN significantly impaired preparations for typhoons at the end of the year, given its expansive presence throughout the archipelago.
June 2020 — Maria Ressa and Rappler
Duterte’s beef with free press did not stop with ABS-CBN as Maria Ressa, CEO of news website Rappler, and writer Rey Santos, Jr. were convicted and found guilty of cyber libel. The article of interest, which was written in May 2012, spoke of connections between then-Chief Justice Renato Corona and businessman Wilfredo Keng, who “had been under surveillance by the National Security Council for alleged involvement in illegal activities, namely ‘human trafficking and drug smuggling.’” The conviction, which occured on June 15, set a dangerous precedent as the law that Ressa and Santos were found guilty of violating, Republic Act №10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, was enacted on September 12, 2012 — four months after the supposed crime was made. In other words, journalists were found guilty of violating a law that, when committed, did not even exist yet.
July 2020 — “Anti-Terror” Law
To further exacerbate problems, President Duterte signed Republic Act №11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 into law on July 3, thus repealing the already problematic Human Security Act of 2007. Among its controversial provisions include, among others, the vague definition of “terrorism” and the further empowerment of the executive branch to unilaterally label anybody as a “terrorist.” This controversial law would eventually see 37 petitions filed against it in the Supreme Court due to its possible use against activists and government critics.
August 2020 — The Ostrich
In a sheer demonstration of the pandemic’s surreality, a runaway ostrich was spotted in a private subdivision in Quezon City on August 4, 2020. Creating buzz on social media, it would soon be uncovered that the ostrich seen in videos online was one of two, and that it dies of stress a week later. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) would then launch an investigation into their ingress into the city, given that wild animals such as ostriches require special permits for ownership.
September 2020 — Remote Learning
The time would eventually come for us students to “return” to classes in what would become the first full academic year of remote learning. Many compromises were made, with specific examples in EEE being the modification of course lengths to 6 weeks (as opposed to 12) and the readjustment of sophomore courses to create a required midyear.
October 2020 — Amogus
Interestingly, an old game would gain popularity a month after the start of the semester. Among Us is a game in the Social Deduction genre (which also includes the game Werewolf), hitting its peak number of Steam players in September. Such a surge in players would continue on well into November, and the content spawned from the game remains plentiful and ever growing, even to this day.
November 2020 — Nasaan ang Pangulo? [Where is the President?]
Just 2 months into the new school year, a seemingly non-stop string of devastating typhoons — Quinta, Rolly, and Ulysses — struck the Philippines, causing flooding, power outages, and damage in Bicolandia, CALABARZON, Cagayan Valley, and Metro Manila. The seeming inaction of the national government during these crises would eventually prompt the hashtag “#NasaanAngPangulo,” especially after the Office of the Vice President took in online distress calls and coordinated rescue efforts in Cagayan. The ensuing devastation would lead to students and faculty calling for an early end to the semester, seeing that many will be unable to recover from the storms immediately.
February 2021 — Vaccinations
After nearly a year of banking all of its hope on vaccines, the Philippines received its first doses of Sinovac’s as donations from China. As of publication, nearly 3 out of 100 Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, whereas around 1 out of 10 have received their first dose. Despite this glimmer of hope, however, scarcity of supply, a slow vaccination rollout, and vaccine hesitancy continue to haunt the government’s inoculation drive. Nevertheless, with emergency use authorizations (EUAs) issued to seven vaccines as of writing, all vaccines report 100% efficacy against contraction of severe COVID-19.
So that has been our school year in review. Indeed, the future looks bleak due to the sorts of conundrums and commotion that we’ve found ourselves into. Nevertheless, government inaction, ineptitude, and outright authoritarianism should compel us to fight for something better, never to back down and hide. As citizens of our country, we should never let our guard down. Without definitive action, we might just lead ourselves down the same rut that we found ourselves in at the start of this pandemic.
