The myopia of our government officials

EIGHTY days of lockdown in much of the Philippines — more than Wuhan, China’s  76, where this pandemic all started — yet it appears that our government officials only spent 80 minutes to prepare for our “new normal.” One would think that these 11 weeks of staying home would give those responsible more than enough time to think things through and make the lives of millions of Filipinos a little better, if not less bad, as the world returns slowly to normalcy. But these recent shortsighted measures in transportation, for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and on giving additional subsidies only increase the risk of people’s exposure to and their economic hardships with the coronavirus.

One can only feel sorry for that commuter who left his home six hours earlier at the break of dawn thinking he would get to work on the dot now that most businesses have resumed operations. He thought it best to set aside some additional time given that jeepneys and UV Express vehicles are still not allowed on the road, plus the fact that the metro rail system is not to be filled to capacity and the available buses that can ply EDSA are only there to supplement the electric trains with very few stops.