Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
– Dylan Thomas
DEATH, like change and taxes, is inevitable. As actor Woody Allen once said “I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be around when it happens.”
The fact that it is inevitable does not mean we should just accept it and “go gently into that good night.” Rather we should fight fiercely and strongly against death. The purpose of fighting against death is to realize the importance of being alive.
“Hijo de puta”, a famous line from “I Am Iloilo City” Mayor Geronimo, is now the battle cry of the natives in this fight against the coronavirus a.k.a. SARS CoV-2, now more popularly known as COVID-19 pandemic threatening the very existence and survival of humanity.
This COVID-19 pandemic not only symbolizes death but is death itself personified, and the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” will not just “go gently into that good night” as long as Mayor Geronimo is standing. At least that’s how I feel watching his live presscons and daily pronouncements.
For the past weeks as the COVID-19 pandemic rages infecting and killing anyone in its path, Mayor Geronimo is the epitome of political will, doing what is humanely possible to save his people. I must say this, with him at the helm I feel safe already.
The “hijo de puta” coming from Mayor Geronimo seems to project a reassuring sense that he will fight for you. Why, it has even eclipsed President Duterte’s famous or infamous (depending on which side you’re on) “putang ina” as the trendy expletive of choice.
On a personal note, being a proud Ilonggo,I prefer “hijo de puta” over “putang ina” as it evokes a bygone era of genteel Iloilo’s Hispanic past. It has more class than that hoi polloi Tagalog expletive, in other words not “social” enough for the Ilonggos’ discriminating taste.
I need not elaborate what “I Am Iloilo City” Mayor Geronimo has done in this fight against the COVID-19 pandemic as it is all over social and mainstream media, but he has been decisive and acted with political will.
Just to name a few: the quarantine and eventually Enhanced Community Quarantine or ECQ has so far been effective and was just on time, the timely closing of our ports and airport (with great teamwork with Gov. Toto Defensor Jr.) has kept the numbers down and still manageable.
Instead of waiting in agony for the COVID-19 testing kits from the national government, Iloilo procured their own through donations from Ilonggo businessmen and wealthy families.
* Iloilo has its own Research Institute for Tropical Medicine-accredited testing facility. This means getting the results ASAP as it skips the process of sending specimens to the RITM.
* Iloilo has established 240 community kitchens in barangay daycare facilities to make sure no one dies from hunger.
* Iloilo has deployed kitchen patrols to make sure frontliners like city health workers, sanitation teams, emergency responders, etc. are able to have their free lunch and dinner.
* Iloilo provided dormitories for the frontliners taking care of PUIs (persons under investigation), PUMs (persons under monitoring), and confirmed patients to make sure they have a decent place to stay while they fight to end this crisis.
* Iloilo provided food assistance to the most vulnerable sectors like jeepney and pedicab drivers while their operations are on hold.
* Ilonggo nurses and local designers working hand in hand to produce personal protective equipment for the frontliners all across the province. If they can’t buy them, the hell, they make them!
* Buses were deployed to make sure frontline health workers are able to report to work,
On top of these the business community leaders have come together and are very generous with donations to support the city government.
The natives of “I Am Iloilo City” have rallied behind Mayor Geronimo save for the usual idiots chasing an imaginary“aswang.
Meanwhile, the usual suspects i.e. the “devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon”, trendy social-climbing so-called millennials and the rest of the idiots waited for eight hours to watch the nationwide television broadcast of President Rodrigo Duterte, the man they all hate just so they can find something they can use as an issue against him.
So this is for them and history illiterate idiots who did not get the message of President Duterte and his reference:
“Do not cry, Pepito, show to
these people that you are brave. It is an honor to die for one’s country. Not
everybody has the chance”…
Last words of Jose
Abad Santos, fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, before he and his family
were executed by the Japanese. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
